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J. GABRIEL WOERNER 



A 

BIOGRAPHICAL 

SKETCH 



By 
WILLIAM F. WOERNER 



ST. LOUIS. MO. 

1912 






Copyright, 1912, 

By 

WM. F. WOERNER. 



of 

Nixon-Jones Printing Co. 
St. Louis, Mo. 



©CI.A330169 



To my beloved children, denied the priceless boon 
of knowing in the life their lovable grandfather, 
whose honored name is borne in full by my elder son, 
this sketch is affectionately dedicated, in the hope that 
it may in some measure, however slight, shed further 
light upon that noble life which my dearest wish 
would have them emulate. 



Foreword 5 

Early Life 7 

In the Ozarks 13 

At the Press — Budding Manhood - - - - 21 

A Trip Abroad and a Side Trip - - - 26 

Courtship and Marriage ------ 33 

At the Bar - - - 36 

Early Political Life - - - - - - - 41 

Campaigns for Judge of Probate 53 

On the Bench - 64 

Legal Works _______ 71 

Early Literary Efforts -77 

Later Literary Works— "Die Sclavin" 88 

"The Rebel's Daughter" ... 97 

Recreations -------- 106 

Characteristics - - - - - - - 110 

Homes -------- 118 

The Man 122 

Thy Life (Verse) ------ 129 



FOREWORD. 

^^TO man with a proper realization of his task 
should presume to< attempt as much as a 
short sketch of the life of J. Gabriel Woerner with- 
out feeling a sense of due reverence in his heart, and 
a full consciousness that though he bring to bear the 
sincerest faithfulness in his effort, he must yet of 
necessity fall far short of doing justice to his subject. 

For here was a man universal. The wide activi- 
ties of his busy life were in perfect adjustment at 
every angle and point of contact with his diversified 
environments in all their broad sweep. 

It is the tendency of human nature that men great 
and successful in some particular direction become 
over-balanced ; that is, by dwelling too much within 
the sphere of the particular specialty in which they 
excel, they come to overrate its significance, and 
lose the proper sense of proportion and relation to 
those other affairs which go to make life whole. This 
is especially true of what we call "self-made men." 

Not so with Gabriel Woerner. Though possessing 
demonstrated greatness of the highest quality in sev- 
eral specialized directions, and exhibiting marked abil- 
ity in general in the numerous activities toward which 
he directed his faculties, yet the broadness of his 



— 6 — 

mind, reinforced by the simplicity and measureless 
charity of his nature, made it impossible for the little, 
the narrow or the partial to< find for a moment a rest- 
ing place in him. 

Endowed with tireless energy, indomitable will 
power, God-given ability and Christ-like charity, he 
lived a life, at the close of which it was well said that 
"God might look down upon this man, and be proud 
of His own handiwork." 

In here attempting to preserve for his descend- 
ants as much of the story of his life as my oppor- 
tunities, limited by my ability, permit, my main solici- 
tude has been for accuracy. I have aimed to remain 
strictly within the scope of actual fact; in other words, 
to depict only truth. In doing this, when not within 
my own personal knowledge, I have drawn from such 
sources only as to me seemed authentic and reliable. 

Yet, when we dwell upon a beautiful and univer- 
sal life such as he led, it sadly impresses one as 
akin to dismemberment and mutilation to chop it up 
by proceeding to the necessary recitation of cold 
dates, places, specific events. For these at best pro- 
vide but an inadequate and unsatisfying skeleton, 
without the flesh and blood, the warmth and color- 
ing, the life and soul, of the reality. 



FMMHSCHESADEiaCIIES TCftmN 





EARLY LIFE. 

J GABRIEL WOERNER was an American of 
* the highest type, in all respects save that of 
foreign birth. He was born in Mohringen, a village 
in Wurtemburg, Germany, on April 28, 1826, the 
youngest of fourteen children, ten of whom attained 
maturity. His first name, John, was not used except 
by way of initial. 

Both of his parents, though then poor, came of 
well-born lineage. There is a well-authenticated coat 
of arms of "Die Worner," but his democratic instinct 
made him rather indifferent to it. What may be the 
meaning or significance of the strange figures and 
checkered field, the lapse of time has veiled in mysr 
tery. 

As a boy of seven he came with his parents and 
some of the children to this country. They fol- 
lowed some of the others who had already preceded 
them, leaving only Christian, the eldest, in the 
Fatherland. The family tarried for four years in 
Philadelphia, where little Gabriel was put to work 
carrying bread before daylight for a brother-in-law 
much older than himself who conducted a bakery 
business. 

Though we have much earlier letters, the one in 
which the earliest incident in his life to which refer- 



— 8 — 

ence is made, is one written by him to Mrs. Kate Ball 
(nee Weinert), a part of which runs thus: "I dis- 
tinctly recollect some incidents, trivial and unimpor- 
tant, but indicative of the estimation in which, even 
at that time, I held her [Mrs. Ball's mother]. When 
about eight or nine years of age I was in the habit of 
carrying bread, from my brother-in-law Schoenthaler, 
who was a baker, to your father's house. It was a 
long way from Nlinth and Batonwood [?] street, 
where we then lived ; and as I had also to carry bread 
as far as Broad and Market street, I was sometimes 
late, and your father, perhaps, had to get bread else- 
where for breakfast, and reprimanded me pretty 
roughly for my tardiness. On one of these occasions 
your mother interceded for me, and suggested to 
your father that it was rather a hard task for me, 
at my age, to carry a heavy bread basket so great a 
distance. I shall ever remember the impression that 
her kindness made upon me. I loved her for it, and 
blessed her, in my secret heart, many a time, although 
I never said a word even to thank her," etc. In an- 
other letter to the same lady, is the statement that he 
was raised by his sister Regine, then Mrs. Schoen- 
thaler (later Mrs. Vogel), and that he "stayed with 
her from my seventh to my fourteenth year. With 
Rosine [Mrs. Schilling] I stayed six or seven years; 
my home was there when I went to Europe, and until 
I got married." 

In 1837 the family came to St. Louis and settled 
here. His father, Christian Woerner, a contractor 



— 9 — 

or architect by occupation, died in the later forties. 
The beloved mother, whose maiden name was Eliza- 
beth Ulmer, died a very few years after her husband, 
in the year 1849. $ ne was an estimable character 
who (to judge from; the vague hint or two on this 
subject that has filtered down to me) probably had 
more real sympathetic appreciation for her youngest 
son Gabriel's character and of its promise, than had 
any other person at the time. 

There is a passage in u The Rebel's Daughter" 
wherein Victor Waldhorst, the principal character of 
the novel, in a few simple, pathetic sentences, relates 
a family experience which (making allowances for 
variations for adaptation to a work of fiction) is pos- 
sibly somewhat like the author's recollection of his 
own family's experience while he was still a child, 
and which not impossibly might account for the re- 
moval to St. Louis. The passage runs thus: 

Victor "informed his attentive listeners that he 
had come to this country with his parents when he 
was quite a young boy ; that his father invested the 
greater part of his means in the purchase of a 
house and lot, for which he paid cash, and did 
quite well for a while 'until one day a stranger 
called at the house and told father that the house 
and lot belonged to him, demanding payment for 
it. Father showed him the deed, but the stranger 
laughed at it, saying it was signed by his son, who 
had the same name as he, but that the house did 
not belong to the son, but to himself. At this 
father got angry and told the man to leave the 
house. After that he came back one day with an- 



— IO — 

other man, who said he was a sheriff, and left a 
paper with father; and three or four months after 
that this sheriff drove us out of the house, put our 
furniture in the street, and we had to rent a house 
to live in. We were then quite poor, for father 
had not much money left after paying for the house 
he had bought.' . . . 'My father,' Victor 
continued, 'was very much grieved over our loss. 
His business did not prosper after that, and we 
had sad times. Then came the cholera, both pa- 
rents took it and died the same week.' 
'And then,' he went on, 'when our parents had 
been buried, and the sale of our household goods 
had produced hardly enough to pay the doctor and 
undertaker, we had nothing. I hired out as a 
journeyman baker . . . and my sister found 
a home in the family of a distant relative of ours, 
back in the city.' " (Rebel's Daughter, pp. 28-29.) 

Little Gabriel had the benefit of but the scantiest 
school education; and what little he had was of a 
kind hardly worthy the name. One feature that I 
have myself heard him comment upon was the fact 
that there was but one teacher to the four hundred 
children, and also that the inevitable corporal inflic- 
tion that came as surely as the night follows the day 
w T as for some time supposed by him to be, not chas- 
tisement for misbehavior, but rather a part of the 
regular daily discipline. This period was probably 
during the stay in Philadelphia (between 1833 and 
1837 >' ^at is, while he was between seven and eleven, 
though the time is not indicated in the passage on 
this point found in "Rebel's Daughter," p. 27). In 



— II — 

a sketch in "The Commonwealth of Missouri" 
(Barns, 1877), lt appears that "he lived in Phila- 
delphia four years, where the subject of this sketch 
for three years attended the public school, there con- 
ducted on the 'Lancaster System' (four hundred 
pupils under the care and tutorship of one 
teacher) and spent one year at a parochial school. 
The family in 1837 removed to St. Louis, where 
young Woerner for about two years attended a pri- 
vate German school, with frequent interruptions by 
work at home." For this "Lancaster System," see a 
passage in the "Rebel's Daughter" on page 27, where 
the author, through the lips of Victor, evidently gives 
his own recollections. During his Philadelphia pe- 
riod (from seven to eleven years of age) the poor 
little fellow's schooling, even such as it was, must 
have been sadly interfered with by his pitiable duties 
in carrying bread, which required his rising before 
the dawn to make his rounds. 

From an interview in a paper (The "St. Louis 
Critic," May 2, 1891, which I think is substantially 
authentic) , we find the statement that "the first school 
he attended here was a private enterprise established 
by a Mr. Steimes on Main street between Poplar and 
Spruce streets in the house of one Weinheimer. 
Steimes lived until about a year ago. A Mr. Min- 
drup succeeded him. The school was, soon after its 
establishment, moved to Myrtle, between Third and 
Fourth streets, where it was taught by Julius Weiser, 
an intimate friend of William Weibig, founder of 



— 12 — 

the Anzeiger, the first German newspaper published 
in the city." The purported interview then con- 
tinued: " 'It was through the influence of Mr. Weiber 
and Jacob Schmidt, then County Engineer of St. 
Louis County, that I first had my attention turned to 
German literature, and under their encouragement I 
imbibed a strong love for the classics of the German 
people, and in reading these great works was enabled 
to understand Germans as I never had done before.' " 

But whatever his schooling was, it is safe to say it 
amounted to little, considered from an educational 
standpoint, and even that little was very short-lived. 
This serious drawback of an almost total lack of 
proper educational care and opportunity, which in 
itself would have blighted the prospects of the vast 
majority, he keenly appreciated, boy though he was, 
and strove to counteract. 

With that wonderful earnestness and zeal which 
remained characteristic of him throughout his life, 
he seized every spare moment and improved every 
opportunity to acquire knowledge. By his own ef- 
forts, alone, unaided by help from without, he devel- 
oped the splendid intellect with which nature had en- 
dowed him. 



IN THE OZARKS 

TN 1 841 he was sent from St. Louis to Springfield, 
-*- Missouri. 

Between the ages of fifteen and eighteen, as a sort 
of apprentice, I believe, for Godfrey Schoenthaler 
(who, however, remained in St. Louis), he was put 
to work as all-around clerk in country stores, first at 
Springfield, where he arrived toward the end of 1841 
and had charge of the store of Mr. Bruin, or De 
Bruin, later at Belle Fonte in the same region (from 
the middle of June, 1842, to the fall of that year) 
and then at Waynesville. All at that time were small 
frontier villages in the Ozark Mountains region, in 
the interior of Missouri (even Springfield had only 
about 200 inhabitants). 

A lover of nature in boyhood, to this period spent 
in the Ozark backwoods may be traced, perhaps, that 
aroma of the woods and fields that charmingly as- 
serts itself here and there in the works of fiction writ- 
ten by him in later life. And there, too, he received 
those first impressions of primitive country politics 
(very different from the city politics of the present 
day) which are so realistically portrayed in his story 
of "Love, Politics and War," published more than 
fifty years later; and here probably was aroused in 



—14— 

him that interest in American political affairs which 
he ever after exhibited. This surmise is confirmed by 
the discovery of a letter he wrote, when almost forty, 
in which, in a reminiscent mood as the result of as- 
sorting a mass of old letters, he refers to> those early 
days. 

In fact, that peculiar, thoroughly American spirit 
in its original evolution in the self-reliant primitive 
settlers, which he here absorbed into his sterling 
German blood, operated as an invaluable nexus that 
often enabled him in later years to mediate and har- 
monize two apparently hostile racial strains amongst 
the people. He understood the intense and direct 
German element, with its sincere contempt for forms, 
even constitutional forms, which seemed to defeat 
what the German mind conceived as the substance of 
true American liberty, and with its further contempt 
for the politer amenities and easy urbanity of the 
American-born, particularly of the slaveholder. And 
on the other hand he understood full well from his 
own experiences, the feeling of contempt that this 
native element (designated as ''Americans") enter- 
tained for what they considered crass "Dutch" inter- 
lopers, with their gratuitous imported alien notions 
about American affairs which they could not under- 
stand. In the interview before alluded to he is said 
to have declared of this period of his youth that 
"there were no German people about Springfield, and 
being thrown in the society of Americans exclusively, 
I began the study of American institutions, develop- 






—i5— 

ing a love for them which has only broadened with 
the passage of the years." 

Many of his clerking experiences in these country 
stores are amusingly illustrated as those of Victor 
Waldhorst in the novel above mentioned, especially 
in the chapter, "A Western Town and Its Rival 
Stores," and the next one, "Bunkum: Mercantile and 
Literary." 

In fact, all through its earlier pages, the vicissi- 
tudes of Victor in the "Brookfield" (Springfield) and 
"May Meadows" of the novel closely correspond 
with those of the author himself during these years of 
interior Missouri life. 

By a fortunate preservation of three letters writ- 
ten by him during this time to one of his sisters in 
St. Louis, we get a glimpse of his surroundings at 
that time, as well as pointers of his youthful charac- 
ter. They are written (strangely enough when we 
remember his lack of schooling) in the best gram- 
matical and idiomatic German, in a firm hand, and 
are dated respectively Springfield, December 13, 
1841; Springfield, January 12, 1842, and Waynes- 
ville, November 12, 1842, when he was but fifteen 
and sixteen years of age. Alone in these backwoods 
villages, remote from family influences, between the 
lines can be discerned the coloring that this American 
environment was stamping deeply into the susceptible 
nature of the youth during this impressionable period. 

And as indicative of his eagerness for learning, at 
a time when other boys would put in their spare 



— 16— 

time on games and sport, and remembering what 
fragments of time were his own, look at this signifi- 
cant extract translated from the second Springfield 
letter, when he was aged fifteen. After referring 
gratefully toi one John H. Miller (who, however, 
later forfeited his regard, as appears from a later 
letter from which it seems that Miller plighted troth 
to this sister and afterwards broke his promise) , who 
evidently had taken a liking to the youth, and 
who seems to have been possessed of some literary 
works, no doubt a scarcity in those regions, the letter 
to the sister (translated) continues: 

"You know how fond I am of reading. Well, 
now, imagine my good fortune in having at the dis- 
posal of my own sweet will the best of American 
literature, the most complete selection of the best 
poetry — in short, the best that American talent can 
produce; when I can call mine the finest and most 
beautiful steel engravings ever made! And all this 
I owe to the generosity of this lovable man! But 
enough hereof — you know how much I like him. 

"Furthermore, I am most of the time in the store 
from morning until night, and after supper I either 
practice music, or write, or read, or make calendars, 
etc. On the whole, I like it here pretty well." 

The same letter contains three of an eleven-stanza 
original poem written as he says "as usual on such 
occasions." This was on the Sunday after New Year 
(his first leisure day, being a few days prior to the 
date of the letter) . The lines are not bad for a mere 



—17— 

boy, and are referred to later in connection with his 
early literary efforts. 

A hint of this appreciation of every floating oppor- 
tunity to acquire a bit of education is also given in 
"The Rebel's Daughter" on page 26, where Victor 
(evidently voicing the author's own early sentiments) 
says of his advent to the frontier region: "One of 
the reasons why I am very glad to get the situation 
in Mr. Van Braaken's store [evidently a disguised 
name for De Bruin's, Gabriel's place of employment 
in Springfield] is the promise he made me that I shall 
have leisure to improve myself by private study. . . . 
I should like to study mathematics and Latin, so that 
I might become acquainted with the works of great 
men who explain to the world the nature of things, 
and justice, and freedom." 

From another angle, too, these early letters are 
both amusing and interesting. In strictest confidence 
to his favorite sister, and with naive candor and 
earnestness, he lays bare in the Waynesville letter 
the depth to which the first dart shot from Cupid's 
bow has penetrated into his sixteen-year-old heart, 
and utters the irony of fate that compels him to leave 
his dear idol while he must on to Waynesville. The 
name of the maiden was too sacred to commit to pa- 
per, and he refers to her only as "S." If we may 
at this day be pardoned in divulging it, this was 
Sallie Colley (one year his senior, I believe), who 
later became the wife of one Christason. In this 
same Waynesville letter, in order to describe his ex- 



— 18 — 

perience with this perhaps slightly fickle charmer, he 
describes minutely a social game or dance, and his 
experiences therein, and it is in substantial identity 
with the description and experiences of Victor Wald- 
horst in the "Rebel's Daughter" (in chapter XV, 
pages 234-237), even down to the heart-aches of 
his hero Victor in the novel, which correspond to his 
own on that occasion, as stated in his letter. 

More than half a century later, not long before 
his death, while making a long-contemplated return 
to the scenes of these boyhood days, he sought her 
out and saw her once again. But we can imagine 
what a world there was now between them ! And be- 
tween her and his boyish ideal ! Poor Sallie ! Hav- 
ing lived the same narrow, stagnant, backwoods life 
all the time, she has changed little except in years; 
learning who her visitor is, she now arises from the 
poor hearth where she is sitting with her aged 
husband, takes the little short pipe from between her 
teeth and extends a wrinkled but still vigorous hand 
to greet her old boy-friend Gabe of over a half cen- 
tury ago, now the author of "The Rebel's Daugh- 
ter," to which her own life unconsciously contributes. 
Let it be added that it is probable that, leaving 
Waynesville in 1842, a new ideal soon developed, 
the one he had in mind as the "Nellie May" of the 
novel, but this is in a measure my own surmise. 

But young Gabriel must have been somewhat in 
contract with the Colley family ; for, writing to Grov- 
er Cleveland on January 28, 1885, the one-time boy 



— 19 — 

beau of Sallie, in recommending to the President-elect 
for a certain office one George W. Colley "of Pulaski 
County" (who, I presume, was probably Sallie's 
brother) says that "it was his [i. e., George W. 
Colley's] father who, now more than forty years 
ago, distilled into my mind those principles of 
democracy which have ever since represented to 
me the theory of American government; and I 
am now conscious that the sterling qualities of 
his character — simplicity of purpose, unswerving 
devotion to> the interests of the public, to which 
his own and those of his family and neighbor- 
hood were ever subordinated, and uncompromising 
integrity — impressed me, more readily, perhaps, than 
the intrinsic truth of democratic doctrine, and gave 
tone and direction to my political views. His son 
George, I am proud to say, followed in the footsteps 
of his father, both in forming an unstained character 
and in his political convictions," etc. From a much 
earlier letter it appears that one of his close friends 
in the Springfield days was Lafayette J. Morrow, 
with whom he corresponded for years thereafter, and 
whose name is given to a character in one of his works 
of fiction. 

But young Woerner chafed at his restricted oppor- 
tunities of development in these wilds, "during the 
best schooling time of his life," as the boy respect- 
fully but somewhat rebelliously intimates in a Ger- 
man letter of November 26, 1842, to Mr. Godfrey 
Schoenthaler, who appears to have been his employer. 



— 20 — 

So when Gabriel was eighteen years of age he left 
this region and returned once more to St. Louis, this 
time "for good." 

It must be remembered that in those days even 
St. Louis was but little more than a small Western 
village. 



AT THE PRESS— BUDDING MANHOOD. 

T_J E never seemed to care to enter upon a mercan- 
tile career. His ambition at this time was to be- 
come a printer, although ultimately he longed to be 
a lawyer. Accordingly, he embarked for the print- 
er's trade by entering the office of the German "Trib- 
une" in the capacity of a lowly "printer's devil." By 
rapid stages he rose successively to pressman, fore- 
man, editor and proprietor. This experience in the 
printing and newspaper business is also largely re- 
flected in the similar career of his Victor of the novel. 
However, the record of a few months of this time 
we have authentically from his own hand in a diary 
faithfully kept at the time from day to day, begin- 
ning April 27, 1847 — tne day before his twenty-first 
birthday. The writing, which is in German, is in a 
firm, characteristic hand; the language and grammar 
are excellent, and the content, when beyond a chron- 
icle of mere every-day events, often indicates a dig- 
nity and maturity of thought beyond his years. From 
April 27, 1847, ne kept up this diary regularly 
through May and June, when there is a lapse of 
nearly a month, then a few entries in the latter part 
of July, and a few more in November. The last 
entry is on November 17, 1847. From its early 



— 22 — 

entries it appears that his printer's apprenticeship to 
a Mr. Carmony expired on May i, 1847, an d that 
he entered upon a new contract on that day, under 
which he was to receive a stipend of $7.00 per week 
for printing the newspaper, with a few cents now and 
then for printing little outside extras. He was re- 
quired to begin his printing work at two o'clock every 
morning and to work through a large part of the day. 

In this diary he reproaches himself now and then 
for playing too much a card game called Solo, of 
which he seemed to be passionately fond at that time, 
but excuses himself on the ground that he can not 
resist playing with his loyal friend, Mr. Schep- 
mann, whose amiability and winsomeness he praises 
extravagantly. Says he (translation of item under 
date of April 29, 1847) : "There isn't so much ob- 
jection to the playing in itself; but there is as to the 
time it took place yesterday and today. Ten o'clock 
is a good enough hour to retire for such as do not 
have to get up until five o'clock in the morning; but 
my work requires me to be up at two o'clock, and 
therefore it is highly injurious to my health when I 
tarry until midnight at the gaming table," etc. All 
of his games, as recorded, however, appear to have 
been confined to friends or relatives, and to have been 
for insignificant stakes. It also appears from items 
here and there that for amusement he occasionally 
played checkers, chess and whist. 

On May 2d he chronicles the fiftieth wedding anni- 
versary of his mother, and mentions a present to her 



— 23 — 

of a small sum of money, "as a token of his joy at her 
long and useful life and of his sincere and hearty 
wishes for continued health for many years," etc. 
But strangely he makes no mention whatever of his 
father. During this period he also keeps a detailed 
weekly account of his outlays and receipts, both of 
which were necessarily pitifully meagre, but never- 
theless he seems to have kept the balance on the right 
side. 

At this time he had evidently already acquired a 
great fondness for the theatre, and mentions it as a 
treat every time he attended (which he usually did 
in company of Schepmann), sometimes describing the 
plot with minuteness in his diary and intelligently 
criticising play and actors, favorably or otherwise as 
the case might be. On the whole he seems to have 
been fairly well satisfied with his lot at this time 
and to have regarded the future optimistically. 

In a later entry in this diary (July 19, 1847, after a 
lapse in its continuity) he proudly chronicles his 
admission to American citizenship, in the Criminal 
Court, on July 12th, "after renouncing allegiance to 
all foreign potentates, particularly the king of Wiir- 
temberg," etc. Under date of November 12th he 
chronicles inter alia the fact that the preceding August 
he had voted for the first time "and for the straight 
Democratic ticket;" he also mentions the marriage 
of his dear friend Schepmann. 

All through this diary he speaks in burning term's 
his admiration for the physical and spiritual beauty 



— 24 — 

of a fifteen year old girl — Amanda Schoenthaler. 
Though he refers to her as a "naive" child, the ten- 
der and glowing sentiments that leap like tongues of 
fire from these passages, leave no doubt of his deep 
affection for the girl. Strange to say (for there 
seems to be no real reason for his dread) there runs 
throughout the November entries an uncanny fore- 
boding that his dark-eyed little friend was not to be 
long for this world — a presentiment which I am told 
was later realized by her early death. Under date 
of May 4th he pasted into his diary a u few lines" 
in type (probably set up by himself) which he "had 
already indicted to her the preceding year." They 
are a New Year's greeting to his Amanda — "An 
Amanda — zum Neuen Jahre 1847" — displaying 
characteristic fiery ardor, and a literary talent of no 
mean order. These verses are set forth later in con- 
nection with his early literary efforts. 

During his newspaper career one of his pleasantest 
duties was the criticism of theatrical affairs, involving 
his attendance at the theatres, and his penchant there- 
for lingered with him 1 to the end, bearing fruit also in 
the production of several dramas. He told on him- 
self an amusing incident resulting from his constant 
reviewing of plays. On one occasion, being familiar 
with play and players on the boards for the evening, 
he wrote out a lengthy review thereof, thinking he 
could do justice to the occasion without going to the 
trouble of attending the play, and sent in the criticism 
during the day as copy for the next morning's edition. 



— 25 — 
But in the afternoon, owing to important news from 
the Mexican War, an extra was unexpectedly issued, 
and by oversight the review of the drama was pre- 
maturely published therein, so that persons seeing 
the first performance enjoyed at the same time an 
excellent review thereof in the extra of the Tribune. 

In those days the printing press was operated by 
the throwing of a heavy lever in a sweeping semi- 
circular arm motion. To his work at the press dur- 
ing this period I have heard him attribute, at least in 
large part, the great breadth and depth of chest, 
which was one of the peculiarities of his physical 
make-up. 

And while touching upon physical features I may 
in this connection add that in physique he was well 
built, broad shouldered but not overly tall (about 
five feet eight inches, possibly a trifle over) . His 
eyes were grayish-blue, and though congenitally 
crossed, his sight was exceptionally good until his 
final sickness. His skin was delicate and fair. His 
hair in younger life was rather darkish, but in his 
later years turned snowy white, which became well 
his venerable and kindly appearance. His lips re- 
flected the refinement of his character, and the large, 
majestically shapen head and cranium was a true 
external indication of the splendid brain within. 



A TRIP ABROAD, AND A SIDE TRIP. 

TN the midst of this newspaper period the German 
Revolution of 1848 broke out. Sympathizing 
with the revolutionists in their efforts, as he then 
conceived, for the establishment of liberal govern- 
ment, he went abroad with the intention of participat- 
ing in that struggle. 

In a second little diary, which safely survives the 
voracious quicksands of time, stands his chronicle of 
the events and incidents of the outgoing voyage. 
Begun on the day of his departure from St. Louis, 
April 17th, 1848 (eleven days before his 2 2d birth- 
day) , the day-book is kept in German up to May 25 th, 
at which time he was in London. Thereafter the 
chronicler adopted English shorthand. This idea 
probably resulted from his Philadelphia visit, where 
he saw his cousin Stiltz learning it, and he resorted 
to it in the diary, probably to improve himself by 
practice; but since he was still in the earlier stages 
of this system, I found it difficult to decipher much 
thereof. However, the longhand part is in the same 
firm hand and masterful German diction which was 
characteristic of him. These entries are brim full 
of interesting and instructive observations, descrip- 
tions and character sketching. 



— 27 — 

Nor should mention be omitted of a decided dash of 
romance that developed during his side trip of a few- 
days in Philadelphia, where he visited a number of 
relatives, and made friendships which he never for- 
got. It appears that he particularly revelled in the 
charming society of two beautiful young ladies, 
namely his "cousins, Kaetchen Weinert and Mary 
Ann Stiltz" (who afterwards respectively became 
Mrs. Kate Ball and Mrs. Mary Ann Wagner) . Al- 
though permitted but a few days to tarry, yet by the 
time inexorable necessity sternly ordered him on or 
miss his liner, his heart was filled with gloom at part- 
ing from them (and particularly Katie). 

Let us digress here a moment to add that he ever 
cherished all the Philadelphia friends he made on 
'this visit. He not only corresponded with them on 
this trip abroad, and visited them on his return voy- 
age, but kept up a beautiful and interesting inter- 
change of letters until late in life, particularly with 
Mary, and her younger sister Maggie, but not so 
much with Katie. He visited such of them, male and 
female, as were in that city, in 1865, when he, as one 
of a number of Councilmen (or possibly as manager 
of the House of Refuge) on a tour of investigation, 
passed through, and again in 1866 when there in 
behalf of information connected with the House of 
Refuge, and also at other times. 

He never tired of inviting them and theirs to 
his St. Louis home. For instance twenty-three 
years after his first visit, writing on May 8, 



— 28 — 

1871, to his cousin (their brother) George Stiltz 
(who had removed to Indianapolis), we find him 
saying of these two aforesaid charming cousins 
(both of course long before married, but still Phila- 
delphians) : "On last Saturday week we were most 
agreeably surprised by the appearance among us of 
my dearly beloved cousins, Mary Ann Wagner and 
Kate Ball — amiable and lovely as ever, and as natural 
as life, only — especially in the case of Mrs. Ball — a 
little more so. If you remember, how thoroughly I 
was captivated by these ladies in the days when you 
studied phonography in your father's shoe-store, and 
I came among them a raw and rather awkward and 
bashful youth from the far West, you may imagine, 
but I certainly cannot describe to you, my joy," etc. 
It may be added that the visit referred to proved so 
pleasant to both the visitors and Judge and Mrs. 
Woerner, that it was lengthened to a stay of several 
weeks. There are numerous other charming letters 
that attest the permanency of these early Philadelphia 
friendships. 

Returning now from this digression, this route as 
described in the diary above referred to, from St. 
Louis to the Seaboard as made at that day (1848), 
is in itself of interest, if only by way of contrast with 
travel at this day. It shows him taking passage on 
the river steamboat "Taglioni" down the Mississippi, 
and up the Ohio as far as Pittsburg (arriving April 
25th) . Thence on the steamer "Baltic" up the Mon- 
ongahela to Brownsville (arriving the following 



— 29 — 

night), departing at 7 a. m. by stage to Cumberland 
(arriving at 2 a. m.), thence by rail to Baltimore, ar- 
riving that night, April 28th, which was eleven days 
after leaving St. Louis. He gives an interesting 
account of a day spent in Washington, of its art 
works and the session of Congress. From Baltimore 
he then goes on his memorable visit to Philadelphia, 
where he tarried until a peremptory telegram forced 
him on May 5th to leave, sad and gloomy, for N(ew 
York. He went by rail to Amboy, and finally on the 
"superb steamboat John Potter 1 ' to New York, where 
that vessel arrived at 12 o'clock. And at 2 p. m. 
that day, May 6th, 1848, the "Sarah Sands," with 
young Woerner as one of her passengers, began her 
voyage across the Atlantic, safely arriving at Liver- 
pool on the 2 2d of May. How long he tarried in 
Old England does not appear, though he at least 
saw Liverpool, London, Dover. 

But (though this is no longer in his diary) it de- 
veloped that when he arrived at the Fatherland he 
found that his own American ideas and advanced 
political convictions were not in such accord with the 
views and purposes of the insurgents as to warrant his 
taking an active part in the movement. 

There is but the faintest indicia from which could 
be gleaned his personal career during his stay abroad. 
It seems that he made his living as newspaper corre- 
spondent, helped out in part by teaching English. 
The latter is confirmed by a subsequent letter, written 
October 20, 1873, wherein, referring to the then re- 



— 30 — 

cently completed drama "Die Sclavin," the author 
tells his brother Christian Woerner that in order to 
obtain an unbiased and correct opinion upon the work 
from the genuine German standpoint, he had just 
offered to submit it to his friend Franz Dressel to 
whom he had given English lessons in Stuttgart in 
1848, and who was now temporarily in Switzerland. 

A further faint glimpse of this stay in the Old 
World is given from a letter to his cousin Mary 
Ann Stiltz, written in March, 1866, wherein he 
refers to the sorting of old letters which he had 
kept, and after speaking of the earlier ones, con- 
tinues: "Then comes my European tour, and a 
perfect flood of letters of all kinds, from parents, 
sisters, nieces and other relatives at home; from 
newly found friends abroad; from politicians, 
newspaper correspondents, from editors and pub- 
lishers in various parts of the world; the con- 
tents of the letters being as varied as the source 
whence they proceeded." He then mentions many 
of his correspondents of that period who had mean- 
while passed away, including his mother, a sister, 
several nephews and nieces, two brothers-in-law, etc., 
mentions that the years 1848 and 1849 were eventful 
ones in his life, and admits the ardor, impulse and 
emotion then surging within him, contrasting it with 
the calmer disposition of subsequent years (so he 
said), as hereinafter quoted. 

However, while there is this paucity of informa- 
tion covering his stay in Europe, we do know that 



—3i— 

during these two years, as war correspondent of sev- 
eral newspapers, amongst them the New York "Her- 
ald" and the St. Louis German "Tribune" (and 
"Schnell-Post," I believe), he sent many articles — 
"Letters from South Germany" — of great value and 
exceeding interest from the seat of war. And I have 
heard it said that owing to the vigor of his fearless 
pen he was for a time placed in imminent danger of 
sharing the political fate of so many patriots — incar- 
ceration. 

A German letter to his sister (Mrs. Giinther), 
written from Stuttgart, October 4th, 1849, which has 
been preserved, reveals his eagerness to return, not be- 
cause of homesickness (so> he says — but somewhat 
plaintively), but because he found no longer a profit- 
able occupation there to enable him to liquidate what 
he refers to as financial obligations to those left be- 
hind in St. Louis and which he says left him no peace 
of mind. The letter is pathetic also in its references 
to family sorrows, among them the death of his 
beloved mother in St. Louis by the ravages of the 
cholera epidemic of that year. 

At the end of 1849 or beginning of 1850, return- 
ing to America, which he now realized to be his real 
home, he became editor of the "Tribune," and on 
February 25, 1851, purchased it from Nehemiah R. 
Cormany for a purported consideration of $1,000. 
He changed its politics, in accordance with his own 
convictions, from Whig to Democratic, and made it 
the staunch and influential supporter of Missouri's 



— 32 — 

great statesman, Thomas H. Benton. His vigorous 
editorial battles with Henry Bornstein, editor of an 
opposition sheet, lingered long in the memory of St. 
Louisans. 

In 1852 he sold to a syndicate and severed his 
connection with this paper. 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. 

TN this same year, 1852, after a courtship by no 
means devoid of romance, and full of loving sen- 
timent, he won from his rivals the gentle heart of 
Emilie Plass, than which none truer or purer ever 
beat in woman's breast. On November 1 6th follow- 
ing, these two joined their lives in that happy union 
that was only dissolved by the Grim Reaper almost a 
half-century later. She was a native of Embden in 
East Friesland, Hanover, near the Holland border. 
She, too, had come to America as a child with her 
parents. Her father was Friedrich Plass, native of 
Hanover ("Gutbesitzer in Westerfeld, bei Aurich, 
tracing his genealogy to Johann Plass, who came 
to Verden from Stedebergen in 16 10). Her mother 
was Henrietta, nee Teissen, native of Embden. 
Emilie was the fifth of eight children. 

In the letter of March 11, 1866, above mentioned, 
to his sedate cousin Mary of Philadelphia (referring 
to his old correspondence) , he says : "During the yea- 
succeeding my return, in 1850, I received a large 
number of letters, and many from Philadelphia. I 
was full of life, full of ambition, full of hope. These 
letters [he means this period] form an epoch in my 
life also, and it is quite natural that I should, at the 



— 34 — 

time, have deemed myself peculiarly favored by for- 
tune, and yet very ill used. I am happy to say that 
upon my marriage with Emilie, my dear, adored wife, 
the turbulence of my spirit was quieted, and I gradu- 
ally settled down into the quiet, matter-of-fact, busy 
lawyer that I have become.'' (But let me just here 
interpolate that he nevertheless never did become 
"matter-of-fact," and that his blood ran warm and 
red to the last year of his life.) 

Happy were these two — Gabriel and Emilie Woer- 
ner — in each other's trusted and steadfast love, a 
sweet love which was only strengthened by the trials 
and solicitude resulting from Mrs. Woerner's delicate 
health, which caused her much illness, but which with 
characteristic fortitude she bravely bore to the end. 

During his courtship the warm love that filled the 
young swain's heart frequently overflowed in beautiful 
and tender verse. It is a matter ever to be regretted 
that, though these were preserved as treasures by 
Mrs. Woerner for so many years, a short time before 
her death she concluded to destroy most of them, be- 
lieving them too sacred to warrant the hazard that 
these inmost sentiments of a beloved heart might ever 
by chance be exposed to the cold gaze of strangers. 
Only two or three most treasured she did not find the 
heart to destroy. But these tender and beautiful 
verses she kept for her eyes alone, and I must now 
hearken to her silent veto to their publication. 

Some of the letters daily interchanged during such 
rare times as his duties called him away from' her 



— 35 — 

side, remain, too, pathetically manifesting the close 
sympathetic accordance between these two, and the 
loving tenderness and simple devotion of each to the 
other, as well as their ever watchful parental love 
and solicitude for us children. 

I may say here that, in all, five children came to 
them. The first-born, Adolph, was soon carried off, 
in 1854, as a seven-months infant, by cholera. The 
others still live in St. Louis, namely: Rose G., born 
December 16, 1859, and now wife of Benjamin W. 
Mcllvaine; Gabrielle, always called Ella, born Sep- 
tember 7, 1862, widow of Charles Gildehaus; Wil- 
liam F. (myself), born August 20, 1864, husband 
of Agnes T. Judge; and Alice E., born June 13, 
1869, wife of Sylvester C. Judge. 



AT THE BAR. 

n\URING the next two or three years, after his 
marriage in 1852, and while holding the posi- 
tion of clerkship of the then Recorder's Court (be- 
low mentioned), he studied law as best he could in 
the office of C. C. Simmons. In 1855 ne was admit- 
ted to the bar, after short questioning as to his eligi- 
bility, by Judge Alexander Hamilton. The new 
aspirant for legal honors was then twenty-nine years 
old. For a short period practicing alone, he then 
continued his professional labors for a time as a 
member of the law firm of Simmons, Woerner and 
Billings, afterwards Simmons & Woerner. He proved 
to be splendidly endowed with that valuable quality 
in a lawyer known in the profession as a "legal mind." 
It was easily demonstrated that he soon far out- 
classed his older associates in the resultant business 
career of the firm. And many indicia point that quite 
a large portion of his well-earned share of the profits 
were sliced off in the way of loans to others, — and 
especially to Simmons in later years — loans he could 
at the time ill afford to spare, but appeals for which 
his generous nature never could deny, and which of 
course were never redeemed. 

At the breaking out of the Rebellion his practice 
was interrupted by his service in the "Home Guards" 



— 37 — 

or the militia (I believe in Company "I" 8th Infan- 
try E. M. M. later transferred to 7th Regiment E. 
M.<M. in December, 1863). He was rapidly ad- 
vanced from the ranks, until March, 1864, at which 
time he was appointed by the Governor as "Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel of the 3d Regiment in the Enrolled Mili- 
tia of the State." 

He continued in the service until further necessity 
therefor passed away. 

From 1865 to 1870 he was associated in the prac- 
tice with Edward C. Kehr under the firm name of 
Woerner & Kehr. 

As a practicing lawyer his genuinely democratic 
nature, his great zeal and energy, and his fidelity to 
the interests of his clients, coupled with his native 
ability in conducting their litigation by honorable 
means to a successful issue before court or jury (pe- 
culiarly at nisi prius) , gathered about him an exten- 
sive and loyal clientage, and placed him almost imme- 
diately in the front rank of the prominent lawyers of 
those days. Owing to the nature of his then acquaint- 
ances, and the moderateness of his charges, an im- 
mense number of the poorer and middle class popula- 
tion (especially the Germans who then composed a 
large percentage of the citizens), with corresponding 
miscellaneous business of the smaller sort, was at- 
tracted to his law-office. 

Incidents in his professional career, and stories of 
his peculiar victories in those early times when legiti- 
mate individuality of counsel counted for more than 



-38- 

in these later days, were in succeeding years reminis- 
cently recounted among the dwindling remnant, now 
almost wholly gone, of his then contemporaries. 

The Supreme Court reports during this period con- 
tain many cases in which he appears as counsel. 
Among the cases which the Missouri Reports, up 
to the time of his election to the bench in 1870, show 
him to have participated in on one side or the other, 
in the Supreme Court, are the following : 

Baker v. Block et al., 30 Mo. 225. 

City of St. Louis v. Bird, 31 Mo. 88. 

State of Missouri v. J. G. Woerner, 33 Mo. 216. 

Ruch v. Jones, et al., 33 Mo. 393. 

State, to use of Young, v. Hesselmeyer et al., 34 

Mo. 76. 
Brolaski et al. v. Putnam, 34 Mo. 459. 
Wolf, Executrix, v. Lauman, 34 Mo. 575. 
State of Missouri v. Winkelmeier, 35 Mo. 103. 
Muensterman v. Peters, 35 Mo. 270. 
Meyer v. North Mo. R. R. Co., 35 Mo. 352. 
Hause v. Thompson et al., 36 Mo. 450. 
City of St. L. to use of Lohrum v. Coons, 37 Mo. 

44- 
Plogstart v. Rothenbucher, 37 Mo. 452. 
Buchner v. Liebig et al., 38 Mo. 188. 
Lansing, by next friend G. Woerner, v. Lansing, 

38 Mo. 295. 
State of Missouri v. Binder, 38 Mo. 450. 
Sigerson v. Kahmann, 39 Mo. 206. 
Livermore v. Blood et al, 40 Mo. 48. 
Meyer v. Pacific Railroad, 40 Mo. 151. 
Aiken v. Steamboat Fanny Barker, 40 Mo. 257. 
Wade v. Beldmeir et al., 40 Mo. 486. 
Morris v. Hammerle, 40 Mo. 489. 



— 39 — 

Liddy v. The St. Louis Railroad Co., 40 Mo. 506. 

Karriger v. Greb, 42 Mo. 44. 

State of Missouri v. Daubert, 42 Mo. 239. 

State of Missouri v. Daubert, 42 Mo. 242. 

Paul v. Hummel, 43 Mo. 119. 

Kinner v. Walsh, Garnishee of Held, 44 Mo. 65. 

Uhrig v. City of St. Louis et al., 44 Mo. 458. 

City of St. Louis v. Weber, 44 Mo. 547. 

Meyer v. Pacific Railroad Co., 45 Mo. 137. 

City of St. L., to use of Deppelheuer et al., v. 

Newman et al., 45 Mo. 138. 
Gillham v. Kerone, 45 Mo. 487. 
Meysenburg, Tr., v. Schlieper et al., 46 Mo. 209. 
City of St. Louis v. Grone & Whelan, 46 Mo. 574. 
City of St. Louis v. Siegrist, 46 Mo. 593. 
State to use of Peppier, Admr., v. Scholl et al., 47 

Mo. 84. 
Murdock et al. v. Ganahl et al., 47 Mo. 135. 
City of St. Louis v. Ind. Ins. Co., 47 Mo. 146. 
City of St. Louis v. Boatmen's Ins., etc., Co., 47 

Mo. 150. 
Koenig v. Rohlfing, 47 Mo. 163. 
City of St. Louis v. Marine Ins. Co., 47 Mo. 163. 
City of St. Louis v. Ins. Co., 47 Mo. 168. 
City of St. L. v. Anchor L. Ins. Co., 47 Mo. 176. 

But the insistent call to public service permitted 
him to devote but few years to private practice, and 
after 1870 he did not have another opportunity to 
practice law until he retired from the Probate Judge- 
ship in January, 1895. He was then 68 years old. 
From this time he again entered the practice, for a 
few years. But owing to the necessity of completing 
his literary and legal works, and the fact that he was 
in partnership with the writer, who was desirous of 



— 40 — 

lightening the burden of the senior member's work as 
much as practicable, the old Judge never got back into 
the harness as a practicing lawyer with that activity 
and zest of his pre-judicial period at the bar a quarter 
of a century theretofore. The death of his dear wife, 
who was called at the close of the year 1898, carried 
with it his practical retirement from the law alto- 
gether. The few months of active life left to him 
he devoted to the completion of his novel, in which is 
reflected so much of his early life. 

During the long interval between these two periods 
at the bar, Judge Woerner was kept continuously on 
the bench. In fact from 1853 (two years before his 
admission to the bar) until 1895, in one capacity or 
another, he was constantly in the public service. Hence 
the time was indeed limited during which he engaged 
in the active practice of his profession. 



EARLY POLITICAL LIFE. 

A S before stated young Woerner's political opin- 
ions were no doubt largely influenced by the 
true American spirit, with its mingled elements of 
Western and Southern life in the Ozark regions of 
Missouri, which served as his environment during 
several of his youthful years, and which helped to 
give him that thorough understanding of the Ameri- 
can character. He appreciated how the German was 
viewed by the native, and he appreciated how the 
native was viewed by the German. And he under- 
stood the value and mission of the German-American 
in this country. 

He was always interested in public affairs, and 
even before his admission to the bar his merits for 
holding public office were recognized, and thereafter 
he was continually kept in the service of the public, 
in one capacity or another, by the spontaneous de- 
mand of the people, for an almost unbroken period 
of over forty years ! 

The most remarkable feature of this political suc- 
cess lies in its being won in spite of the fact that 
throughout his career he showed always a deep- 
rooted aversion to the trickery and duplicity so 
largely prevalent in practical politics ; he never prof- 



—42— 

ited by such methods, never tolerated them nor tem- 
porized therewith. He was at all times frank and 
fearless in announcing his political views and con- 
victions. 

His political career began in 1853 with his appoint- 
ment to the clerkship of the tribunal then called the 
Recorder's Court, to which he was re-appointed the 
following year, 1854. 

In 1856 he was chosen Clerk of the Board of Al- 
dermen upon the fifteenth ballot, over three com- 
petitors (Degenhardt, J. Mulholland, B. Higdon). 

Thereafter he was continued in office through suc- 
cessive elections by the people, sometimes in the face 
of decisive defeat of the general ticket on which he 
ran, until the end of the year 1894 when he retired 
from public life. 

In 1857, championed by his erstwhile newspaper 
enemy Boernstein, he was nominated on the ticket of 
the "Free Democracy' ' (on the third ballot, over five 
competitors) for City Attorney, and then (April 6) 
elected over James K. Knight and John B. Higdon. 
In 1858 (April 5) he was re-elected to the same posi- 
tion over Henry N. Dedman by a handsome ma- 
jority. 

He was twice elected as a Councilman of the City 
Council from the then First Ward (serving 1861- 
1864). He was elected the first time in the spring 
of 1 86 1 (when eight of the ten wards went to the 
opposing ticket), being chosen over Locke by a ma- 
jority of 726 (see also Scharf, History of St. Louis, 



— 43 — 

p. 694). He was re-elected in the spring of 1863, 
when he ran upon the Union-Emancipation or "Clay- 
bank" ticket, receiving the practical endorsement of 
the Democrats. He not only led his ticket within 
the district, but he defeated his opponent, Roderick 
E. Rombauer, who ran upon the Radical Republican 
or "Charcoal" ticket, by the decisive vote of 1,048 to 
690 (3 scattering) , his majority of 355 out of a total 
of 1,741 in the ward being truly remarkable in the 
face of the fact that the head (mayoralty candidate) 
of the opposing (Radical Republican or "Charcoal") 
ticket carried the same ward at the same time by a 
clear majority of 94 over the combined vote of the 
Union-Emancipation (or Claybank) and Democratic 
candidates. 

Woerner presided over the Council in 1862, but 
declined a renomination. 

In 1862 he was chosen to the Missouri Senate, 
being the only successful candidate from St. Louis 
of the five upon the Claybank Senatorial ticket; but 
his seat was contested, and the lawless, hostile and 
partisan majority unseated him toward the close of 
the session, probably for no better reason that that 
one of their own party should be seated. But to the 
next session, in 1866, Woerner (as a Democrat) was 
re-elected Senator. This, too, in the face of the fact 
that in this election nearly the whole of the ticket was 
defeated in the county at large by an average ma- 
jority of about 1,500. 

In the Senate, although a member of a ridiculously 



— 44 — 

small post bellum minority so far as his party was 
concerned (6 out of 34), Woerner towered as an 
able and fearless leader of the whole body on non- 
partisan measures affecting the interests of St. Louis 
and of the State in general, and this was particularly 
the case in his hold-over (1868) session. During his 
entire career there he performed a world of valuable 
detail work, notwithstanding a sorrowful interruption 
in his senatorial duties when the severe illness of Mrs. 
Woerner required his constant attendance at her bed- 
side in St. Louis. He succeeded in killing a great 
deal of vicious legislation when the rabid partisan- 
ship was not too strongly in its favor. And in the 
second half of his term (1868) he, as chairman of a 
special committee, prepared a report on the Iron 
Mountain Railroad bill which for many years de- 
termined the railroad policy of the State and became 
of permanent value. He "served on the Judiciary 
Committee and was the author of many useful public 
measures" (Scharf, Hist. St. L., p. 695). 

The blandishments and temptations emanating 
from the horde of lobbyists, interested in special 
bills, big or little, to squeeze milk from the great 
legislative teat for selfish consumption, made about 
as much impression on him as drops of water on a fat 
duck's back. 

But he studied the merits of every bill and his ac- 
tions were guided solely thereby. His alertness, his 
keen insight, his forceful logic, coupled with his 
square honesty and winning personal qualities, made 



— 45 — 

him the most powerful factor for the good that there 
was in that body, especially during his second session. 
He went back home at the close more respected than 
ever, standing higher in the esteem of his fellow- 
members whether politically friend or foe. But he 
was poorer in dollars, almost embarrassingly so. 

His struggle against the unjust reconstruction 
measures is touched upon later. 

Meanwhile, in 1864, he had responded to his 
party's forlorn call to stand for the city Mayoralty. 
He was deemed by his party as the man best qualified 
to keep to the lowest figure a then certain and fore- 
gone adverse majority — a compliment fully justified 
by the result. There was of course no hope of suc- 
cess for the Democracy in those years, and the race 
was but a voluntary sacrifice to preserve the party or- 
ganization. Though there remained in that party a 
body of powerful men known as u War Democrats, " 
to which men of Woerner's class belonged (and to 
whose loyalty to the Union cause above party, by the 
way, this country owes its life), yet the extreme radi- 
cal sentiment then in complete ascendency damned 
without distinction everybody designated by the name 
Democrat; besides which such thereof as were South- 
ern sympathizers had not the privilege of voting. 

In this year (1864), as he had done in i860, he 
voted for Abraham Lincoln for President, as the man 
most nearly representing his own views. 

In 1 864-1 865 he was appointed and prepared the 
official revision of the City Ordinances. This well- 



- 4 6- 

digested and valuable work was officially printed the 
next year and is known as The Revised Ordinances 
of St. Louis, 1866. He received therefor the regular 
compensation of four thousand dollars, most welcome 
to him at the time, and which I have heard him allude 
to as being "the easiest money I ever earned." 

From June, 1865, to 1870, he officiated as one of 
the Board of Managers of the House of Refuge; 
and in 1872 (although then Probate Judge) he was 
appointed and for some time served as a member of 
a board created that year by law, known as the 
"Board of Guardians." Especially with reference to 
the House of Refuge did he perform valuable serv- 
ice. It is unnecessary to state that he attended to his 
duties with the utmost faithfulness, though without 
compensation. His investigations and reports mani- 
fest that care as to detail which were demanded by 
that high sense of honor and that appreciation of 
responsibility to every trust, public or private, high 
or humble, which formed a vital part of his very 
nature. 

The time and labor spent for the institution 
was, of course, from a pecuniary standpoint unprofit- 
able to him and even expensive; but from his own 
standpoint he was amply rewarded by the knowledge 
that his services were of real benefit "to that unfor- 
tunate class of human beings that is thrown upon pub- 
lic charity and the guardianship of the State for that 
training and education which more fortunate children 
obtain from the love and affection of parents and 



— 47 — 

relatives." And he fully appreciated "the vast field 
for the exercise of Christian benevolence and philan- 
thropy, not to say of prudent statesmanship, which 
the condition of the poor children affords, who are 
isolated from the community in consequence of their 
own crimes or the criminality or poverty of their par- 
ents and guardians." In a letter to a married cousin 
touching the responsibilities of motherhood, he adds : 
"For a mother, the duty is comparatively an easy 
one. The all-powerful instinct of a mother's love for 
her offspring renders tolerable and even delightful the 
cares, anxieties, self-sacrifices, which are demanded 
by the little ones. Mutual affection alone is capable 
of divining what course it is best to pursue with regard 
to them ; to a stranger this may be very difficult. And 
yet, a thorough knowledge of the individuality of 
each child is essential to its proper treatment. No two 
human beings, even children, are exactly alike. It is 
to the want of attention to this necessity, that so much 
of the ill-success in treatment in reformatories is to be 
ascribed. ... I have become warmly enlisted 
in the subject of training the unfortunate little ones 
who, on account of their own faults or the faults of 
their natural protectors, have lost the inestimable 
blessing of home." 

In 1868 he declined a proffered nomination for 
Congress, on the ground that financially he could not 
afford to accept the position. But he was named as 
one of the electors-at-large for the State in the Presi- 
dential race on the Seymour and Blair ticket. Sena- 



- 4 8- 

tor Woerner was in much demand, and made numer- 
ous telling speeches to the voters in different parts of 
the State, both in English and in German, in that 
campaign. 

The years following the bitter struggle for the vin- 
dication and preservation of the Union, which had 
been fought so that "government of the people, by 
the people and for the people, might not perish from 
the earth," were sad years of political extremes and 
grave excesses. 

Senator Woerner, who had himself borne arms in 
the Union cause in the military service, and who had 
twice supported Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency 
of the United States, was one of that noble but com- 
paratively small body of sober-minded patriots who 
kept their heads in this political chaos. They saw 
that in its bitter reaction against Secession, triumphant 
and exultant Federalism threatened by its own ex- 
cesses to undo the very thing it had drenched the 
country in blood to establish, by practically destroy- 
ing the lately rebellious States. 

These men appreciated deeply that the Union must 
be preserved against destruction by the States; but 
they were big enough also to have the deeper insight 
that the integrity of the Nation conditions not only 
that the State shall not destroy the Union, but also 
that the Union shall not destroy the State. Disfran- 
chisement and denial of equal rights to Southern 
States by the North, or to any State, means the de- 
struction of the Union just as much as the withdrawal 



— 49 — 

of the same States by Secession. The Whole must 
not be destroyed by any of its parts, nor any of the 
parts by the Whole. 

Senator Woerner was the uncompromising foe of 
the unjust and oppressive reconstruction measures. It 
may be here observed that though of course he had at 
all times been opposed to the institution of slavery, 
and had always favored its constitutional abolition, 
yet he voted against and opposed in the State 
Senate the proposed fifteenth amendment to the 
United States Constitution, when it came before that 
body for ratification during one of his terms there, 
by which amendment it was designed (a design hap- 
pily without success) by the Radical Republicans of 
those days to keep in political subjection forever the 
Southern whites, by conferring the unlimited right of 
suffrage upon the black population, grossly ignorant 
and but recently emancipated as slaves of the very men 
they were now intended to dominate. 

But this middle class of temperate and rational 
men who remained faithful to the real principles at 
stake in this chaotic period of the Nation's life, and 
who from both aspects viewed the situation with calm- 
ness and sobriety, necessarily included but few, and 
they got but scant recognition or reward, save by the 
approval of their own consciences. Denounced on 
the one hand by the dominant and domineering Radi- 
cals as of suspicious loyalty and as allied to the "Cop- 
perheads," they were on the other hand supported by 
the Confederate element only long enough for it to 



~5o— 

get back into political power (at least in Missouri) 
whereupon that element showed a similar unapprecia- 
tive spirit, not so loudly uttered but nearly as un- 
sympathetic at least, especially toward the "Dutch." 

In his autobiographical work "A Writer of Books" 
(p. 306), Denton J. Snider, speaking of the first 
meeting with his later intimate friends, J. G. Woerner 
and H. C. Brokmeyer, says: "Both he and Mr. 
Brockmeyer were strong Union men, had been organ- 
izers and officers of the early home guards who held 
the State firm to the cause, and both voted for Abra- 
ham Lincoln that same year ( 1 864) . Both, too, were 
Germans, and I have always thought that if their 
countrymen, who mostly leaned toward a violent, hot 
radicalism (European-born, I think), and who were 
very hostile to Lincoln, could have been brought to 
listen to their advice, Missouri would not have taken 
refuge a few years later in what was practically a 
Confederate control of the State, which lasted a 
quarter of a century." 

Perhaps I may here interpolate that Gabriel Woer- 
ner regarded political questions from the same com- 
prehensive standpoint from which he viewed other 
problems or affairs of life. He hated invasions upon 
fundamentals or universals under the convenient and 
deceptive pretext of special advantage to particulars 
and individuals. In all its insidious forms, he fought 
legalized theft from the general public storehouse, 
a theft not the less heinous because the loss is sup- 
posed not to be felt by any one in particular, and 



— 5i — 

not the more excusable because enuring to great pri- 
vate advantage. It was fundamentally for this reason 
that he was a staunch opponent of what is called 
"Protection of American Industries," but which in 
fact is nothing more than a perversion of the taxing 
power so as to throttle trade in the interest of cer- 
tain favored beneficaries. 

Before returning from this chronological digression 
I may further add that, as might have been expected 
from one who in his young days was an ardent ad- 
herent of Thomas H. Benton, Woerner always 
stood for sound money. During the famous cam- 
paign of 1896 he was sorely tried. On the one hand 
he could not support a double standard of unequal 
value which was to serve as a common measure of all 
values, on the other he could not support the apostle 
of the protective tariff. He again, as in 1864 and 
1868, rose above party, and was one of the few to 
voice his protest against both by casting his ballot 
for the Palmer and Buckner independent Democratic 
ticket. 

Returning to our chronological order, in the springs 
of 1869 and 1870, according to old newspaper clip- 
pings, Woerner again stood for the Council from 
the first ward (in the latter year from the old limits 
of this ward.) In each case he was opposed by 
Archibald Douglas, a popular favorite, and although 
the returns show that Woerner received a far greater 
vote in the district than those with him on the ticket, 
yet he could not overcome the proportionately great 



— 52 — 

adverse majorities, losing the former by a majority 
of 112 out of 742 (while the mayoralty candidate at 
that election lost the same ward by 420), and the 
latter by a bare 8 votes out of 1195 (his colleague 
for the same position and district losing by 284). 

After this short interval devoted to the private 
practice of the law, he was again called to serve the 
public, now, however, in a different and more con- 
genial field. \ -*'!.;•■- 



CAMPAIGNS FOR JUDGE OF PROBATE. 

TN the fall of 1870, much to his own surprise and, 
since he was a delegate to the convention, also en> 
barrassment, Woerner's name was presented to the 
convention of the St. Louis City and County Dem- 
ocracy, for Judge of Probate, by Henry C. Brok- 
meyer. He received the nomination over three other 
competitors (Eber Peacock, J. B. McClelland, Wil- 
bur Boyle) on the first ballot, the votes of the dele- 
gates standing 46 for him to 23 for the field. 

In the ensuing election he was pitted against a 
strong and active opponent, the then incumbent of the 
office, Joseph P. Vastine, but was elected by a vote of 
11,003 against 9296, receiving the largest majority 
for any candidate on either ticket, the party vote in 
general being so close that each party elected a por- 
tion of its candidates. 

His election to this office proved to be the pivotal 
event in his life. 

Undoubtedly diverting the direction of his activi- 
ties from a career which would have been more splen- 
didly conspicuous in the general public eye, it deter- 
mined that his sphere of usefulness should lie in the 
judicial field. With that characteristic conscientious- 
ness which was his nature, and which he could not 



—54— 

help applying to any call or demand that circum- 
stances might bring, he responded to the new duties 
and responsibilities, as he conceived them from his 
high plane. It would have been the same to what- 
ever mission the vicissitudes of life might have called 
him. It was his nature to do right for right's own 
sake, not for ulterior motives. 

His services in the capacity of Judge of Probate, 
however, gave such universal satisfaction to the pub- 
lic that he was kept in this office through six succes- 
sive elections, covering a period of twenty-four years. 

His first term was for six years (187 0-1876). 

He was first re-elected in 1876, the city of St. 
Louis then still constituting a part of the county. 

The events accompanying his re-nomination were 
truly remarkable. The tremendous hold Gabriel 
Woerner had upon the affections of the masses was 
typified in one of the most unique incidents in the 
political history of St. Louis — one never paralleled 
before or since. 

The Democratic convention which met on Septem- 
ber 25, 1876, dominated by politicians (probably of 
Confederate sympathies) regularly nominated a com- 
plete ticket, and adjourned. The successful candi- 
date for Judge of Probate was A. R. Taylor, then a 
worthy and aggressive young lawyer, who received 
the nomination over the incumbent by 60 to 35 votes. 

A storm of popular indignation swept over the 
city and county at the action of the convention on 
account of some of the candidates named, but chiefly 



— 55 — 

in leaving Judge Woerner off the ticket. The latter 
was besieged from all sides to make an independent 
race, but his name had been voted upon in the con- 
vention, and he of course emphatically refused to 
entertain the thought. Meanwhile the Republicans 
had nominated a strong ticket, naming for this office 
Leo Rassieur, a strong candidate of whom even the 
"Republican" (the Democratic organ) said editori- 
ally (October 6th) that "perhaps the only Demo- 
crat who would stand a fair chance of defeating him 
for this office is the present incumbent, Judge Woer- 
ner." The Democratic party leaders in order to 
avoid inevitable defeat of their candidates were forced 
to resort to the necessity of reassembling the conven- 
tion, demanding the resignation of those nominated, 
and doing the work all over again. Mr. Taylor, 
having been regularly chosen and with no charge 
against him, at first demurred when asked by the 
leaders to resign, but finally yielded, as all the other 
candidates had done. Most of the candidates were 
again chosen, but for Probate Judge the same dele- 
gates reversed their votes and Woerner was nomi- 
nated over Taylor by 73 to 23 on the first ballot, 
which action "was made unanimous and loudly 
cheered." 

Great was the satisfaction in the rank and file 
with the final outcome in this respect. In the ensuing 
campaign Rassieur plead for sympathy by asserting 
that Judge Woerner had said after the first conven- 
tion that he would not run, but this was shown to be 



-56- 

in reply to the demand that he should run as an inde- 
pendent, a position so manifestly consistent with the 
Judge's acts as to be self-evident. 

The outcome of this campaign was his defeat of 
Leo Rassieur, who was a popular candidate and left 
no stone unturned to win, by a vote of 26,564 as 
against 22,191, Judge Woerner's majority thus being 
4373 (figures of Globe-Democrat, November 10, 
1876). The significance of this result can be appre- 
ciated when it is recalled that in that election Judge 
Woerner not only led the Democratic ticket upon 
which he ran, by a remarkably large margin over the 
next highest candidate, but that the head of his ticket 
(Sheriff) was defeated by 6194 votes, and most of 
the other Democratic candidates were also defeated. 
This difference of 10,567 votes between Sheriff and 
Probate Judge in a total of 48,755 represents more 
than one-fifth of the entire vote cast! 

Although elected for a second term, the new Con- 
stitution of 1875 and the statute of 1877 served to 
create some doubt whether the duration of the term 
was for six years, or whether for four with the neces- 
sity of a new election for the succeeding two years. 
Legal complications upon this point were obviated by 
Judge Woerner consenting to stand for the office at 
the end of the four years for the succeeding two years, 
and the successful carrying out of this program. He 
was therefore elected in 1880 for a two-year term. 
All subsequent terms were for four years. 

The election in 1880 was the first for this office 



— 57 — 

since the separation of the City and County of St. 
Louis under the Scheme and Charter. 

Judge Woerner's renomination in 1882 was con- 
tested by his old rival of the 1876 conventions — 
Amos R. Taylor — who had much party sympathy 
because of his forced withdrawal in 1876 after hav- 
ing already received the nomination for this position; 
another applicant was Louis A. Steber, both of these 
men being able and popular. But the integrity and 
faithfulness to duty of Judge Woerner had during 
his twelve years so endeared him to the people of St. 
Louis, of all stations and nationalities, that it was 
felt to be suicidal for the Democratic City Conven- 
tion not to accede to the universal demand for his re- 
tention. The initial result on the first ballot of the 
delegates was 92 for Woerner, 25 for Steber and 
58 for Taylor; but by a number of changes before 
the vote was announced, the final result of the filrst 
ballot stood 102 for Woerner to 74 for Taylor. The 
Republican party this year was disrupted by a bi-fac- 
tional fight. After the refusal of Louis Gottschalk 
to oppose Woerner, in recognition of the incum- 
bent's popularity and fitness (and the futility of op- 
position) , one of these factions at the "Liberty Hall" 
convention paid him the rare compliment of an actual 
endorsement, and declined to name any candidate for 
the place. But Peter E. Bland was nominated for 
this office on the Labor ticket, and Bland was also 
placed upon the ticket of the other (or "Filley") 
wing of the Republican party. At the ensuing elec- 



-58- 

tion there were many surprising results, owing to the 
peculiar conditions, and a mixed ticket was elected. 
For the Probate Judgeship, Woerner was re-elected 
over Bland by a vote of 27,738 to 6719 — a majority 
of 21,017. 

At the next election in 1886 Woerner was again 
nominated by the Democrats, this time without op- 
position, the nomination seemingly being treated as a 
matter of course. After Rudolph Schulenburg re- 
fused to oppose Woerner, a strong effort was made 
in the Republican convention to formally endorse 
Woerner, but the motion was defeated by the dele- 
gates on a vote of 89 to 56. No candidate being 
named by the convention, the Republican City Com- 
mittee was authorized to fill this vacancy on the 
ticket — an authority however which it never exer- 
cised, thus effecting a practical, if silent, endorsement 
that did honor not only to a political opponent, but 
also to the partisan body who thus, while not openly 
departing from party regularity, yet did the grace- 
ful thing in at least this instance. Alas, such a thing 
is rare — we seek in vain its duplication anywhere in 
the political history of the two great parties, at least 
in St. Louis. But then probably there never before or 
since has occasion existed as then. The only opposing 
candidate was E. C. Elliott, upon the Prohibition 
ticket, who received 284 votes. Judge Woerner re- 
ceived 22,307, and the excess of his vote over that of 
any other Democrat at this election shows that while 
his name was not on the Republican ticket, thousands 



— 59 — 

of that party cast their votes for him. Concerning 
the other offices, as so often in those days, the elec- 
tion so far as the City of St. Louis was concerned, 
resulted in a mixed ticket being chosen by the voters. 

He was elected for the sixth time to the Probate 
Judgeship in the fall of 1890. He had then been 
serving for 20 years in that capacity. His Republi- 
can opponent was E. P. Johnson. It was a Demo- 
cratic year and most, though not all, on this ticket 
were elected with Judge Woerner. The latter re- 
ceived by far the highest majority of any candidate. 
He led his ticket by a vote of 27,246 for him and 
19,036 for his opponent, a majority of 8210 (official 
figures as per Globe-Democrat, November 14, 1890) . 
His majority would have been greater if large blocks 
of individual voters had not taken it for granted that 
his re-election was assured and consequently became 
neglectfully indifferent in scratching in his favor. 

This was his last term on the bench. At the end 
of this term it was his desire to retire, after a con- 
tinuous service of twenty-four years. 

But the outlook that year (1894) was dark for the 
Democratic party. Its leaders urged him not to de- 
sert the party at such a time. Their appeal was rein- 
forced by non-partisans and good citizens generally, 
begging him in the public interests once more to make 
the race. He finally accepted a unanimous nomina- 
tion. His opponent was Leo Rassieur, whom he had 
defeated in 1876 for the same office by over 4000 
votes. 



— 6o — 

At the ensuing election nearly the entire Democratic 
ticket, local, State and general, was decisively de- 
feated. The general conditions were so intensely ad- 
verse that, for the first time since reconstruction days, 
the Republican State ticket was elected, and that 
party carried the State Legislature, as well as the 
city. In the avalanche Judge Woerner went down 
too. Although he ran ahead of the general ticket 
thousands of votes, his opponent was elected by a 
margin of 1994 votes, 31,798 to 29,804 (figures 
Globe-Democrat, November 7, 1894). Woerner's 
defeat came as an unexpected shock to the people of 
St. Louis, many of them the very ones who had voted 
against him. 1 

x His election had been considered a foregone conclusion 
by the general public, for the cumulative proof of his supreme 
fitness, then at its loftiest point, was universally acknowl- 
edged. But this very confidence contributed to his defeat, 
because it lulled many of the independent Republicans to neg- 
lect scratching their ballots in his favor. As a strong parti- 
san, one of the foremost lawyers at the bar, years 
afterwards publicly confessed: "I regret to say that I 
was among those who deserted him at that time, and to me 
it will always be a matter of regret, and I have no doubt 
there are many others who are in the same state of mind. 
I think there is one lesson that may be drawn from this ex- 
perience, and that is that whenever we have a judge who is 
experienced and thoroughly tried, that we ought never to put 
him aside for one less thoroughly capable, for mere party 
considerations. I hope that hereafter we shall not give way 
to mere party considerations, but in spite of them continue in 
office an old judge who has done more in his place and who 
is able to do more in the future than any one else who should 
attempt to replace him, and let him go down to his grave 
with the knowledge that he was honored with the confidence 



— 6i— 

A study of the election figures clearly shows that 
he still would easily have been elected, had it not 
been for the fraud perpetrated upon the voters of a 
semi-secret religio-political party known as the Ameri- 
can Protective Association (generally known as "A. 
P. A."). This was an anti-Catholic organization 
which cast a large and deciding vote that year. In 
some unknown way its leaders were induced falsely 
to place Judge Woerner upon the list of candidates 
marked by it for defeat, because of alleged suscepti- 
bility to Catholic influences and unfair religious preju- 
dices. This was an absurdly unjust charge in his case, 
being the exact reverse of the truth. The fact was 



of his fellow men and continued in the duties of his office 
during his later years." 

One of the unfair methods resorted to was the untruthful 
charge that, as one of the official board of judges, Woerner 
had displayed pernicious partisanship in joining with the 
other Democratic judges, in redistricting the City for the 
several Justice of the Peace districts in such a way as to 
"gerrymander" the same in favor of the Democrats. After 
it 1- was too late to meet it, this charge was loudfy and ef- 
fectively exploited for the purpose of inflaming the partisan- 
ship of Republicans and arousing the resentment of citizens 
upon whom party ties rested lightly. This accusation was 
the exact reverse of the fact. To such' effect were his views 
independent of all political considerations that he incurred 
the displeasure of the practical politicians of his own party, 
and the Globe-Democrat at the time had taunted the Demo- 
crats with being unable to use their partisan majority of one 
because of Woerner's independent stand. He was the only 
participant absolutely fair. Yet of them all he it was who 
was successfully attacked before the people a few months 
later for unfair partisanship. 



— 62 — 

that while he was opposed to the A. P. A. as un- 
American because injecting religious matters into poli- 
tical questions (wherein these enthusiasts did the 
very thing they purported to> condemn), yet Judge 
Woerner was not only wholly free from undue re- 
ligious influence, but there was no man that ever 
lived who had in him more genuine toleration and 
liberality for the religious views of his fellow-beings; 
never a man freer from prejudices of any sort, or less 
susceptible to narrow influences of any kind. (See 
his essay on "Sunday and Sunday Laws" for in- 
stance). 

The A. P. A. vote reached the acme of its strength 
that year; it defeated every candidate it opposed on 
either ticket. And though Judge Woerner received 
the highest vote of any of those "blacklisted" by it, 
he too went down. 

In his earlier campaigns he might have taken 
measures to counteract these unfair methods. But 
the silvery haired and dignified old gentleman was 
now not only disinclined to this kind of political war- 
fare, but made the mistake of supposing, like nearly 
all of his active friends, that an open and active pub- 
lic record covering a lifetime was impervious to the 
assaults of a few base campaign lies shrewdly dis- 
seminated for the occasion. 

Coming when it did at the close of his active career, 
this reverse, no doubt, was a grievous disappointment 
to him, though he never gave any expression thereof. 
One such as he, who maintains his serene balance 



-6 3 - 

through a lifetime of real triumphs and successes in 
varied activities, easily meets the lesser test of pa- 
tience in an accidental political reverse. 

The direct blow of his defeat did not so much fall 
upon him as upon those who were thereby deprived of 
the benefit and help of his judicial activities. When 
Gabriel Woerner retired from the bench there was 
an irremediable loss — not so much to him, but to 
St. Louis, to the public in general — one that can 
never be restored. 

When he retired from the bench and from public 
life in January, 1895, after more than a generation of 
active official labors, he did so' with a record unim- 
peachable, unsullied, enjoying the confidence, respect 
and esteem of the members of all political parties, 
beloved by the judges and the lawyers, and by the 
people in general. 



ON THE BENCH. 

/ I v HOUGH Gabriel Woerner led an active life in 
many directions, to the people of St. Louis he 
was, and his memory yet is, best known as Judge of 
the Probate Court. In fact his name is inseparably 
identified and linked with the Probate Judgeship of 
St. Louis. This is largely because it was here that the 
people in general more than elsewhere came into con- 
tact with the man, and to some extent came to know 
him — in so far as official business and their capacity 
for understanding such a nature as his, permitted 
them to know him;. 

For about a quarter of a century he presided there. 
Before him during that time came a vast heterogen- 
ous succession of persons, old and young, rich and 
poor, some coming seldom, some often, many daily — 
litigants, witnesses, jurymen, widows, orphans, ad- 
ministrators, executors, guardians, sureties, trust com- 
pany officials, physicians, undertakers or other per- 
sons having claims against estates, notaries, and of 
course the lawyers and other practitioners represent- 
ing persons interested in probate matters. 

It was the same with all — his simple, natural 
winsomeness won their good will. His spontaneous 
kindliness and courtesy endeared him to everybody. 



-6 S - 

All this was but the utterance of his inborn disposi- 
tion, not assumed, hence term after term, extending 
over a generation, brought no tinge of that autocratic 
bearing so often generated in those long in public 
office. He was the same always — modest, unassum- 
ing, ever ready to help the widow and the orphan, 
and those having their interests in charge, saving to 
needy ones many a dollar which would otherwise have 
been consumed in costs and lawyers' fees. 

In fact complaint was sometimes made by a certain 
class of lawyers that Judge Woerner's gratuitous ad- 
vice and helpful services in routine probate matters 
too often deprived them of the opportunity of making 
good fees out of the Probate Court business. How- 
ever, the legal talent of this ilk too often themselves 
were in need of a little guidance, which they did not 
hesitate to seek and obtain from headquarters. An 
incident was related, how Judge Woerner had pa- 
tiently but unsuccessfully labored for a long time to 
explain to an anxious but dense inquirer (whom he 
did not happen to know very well) as to what items 
should and what should not be included in the settle- 
ment that Mr. — let us say Smith — , the guardian in 
question, was required by law to submit to the court; 
in despair finally the Judge suggested that it would 
probably prove more satisfactory if he, Mr. Smith, 
would consult a lawyer to draft this settlement — ■ 
whereupon, much to the Judge's embarrassment, the 
meek and hesitating response came: "But, Judge, I 
am not Smith — I am his lawyer!" This incident was 
not related by Smith's lawyer. 



— 66 — 

The Probate Judge is constantly called upon to 
pass upon the accountings of executors, administrators 
and guardians, which are usually of an ex parte na- 
ture where the beneficiaries of the estates (heirs, lega- 
tees, minors, widows, persons of unsound mind, etc.), 
are practically not in a position to protect their inter- 
ests but must trust those administering the estates; 
tempting opportunity for pluckings are therefore pre- 
sented which are only too often not sufficiently re- 
sisted. Now it was one of Judge Woerner's striking 
characteristics that throughout his whole incumbency 
he keenly felt a high moral responsibility in this re- 
spect; and he scrutinized closely and with patience 
every item for which credit was taken in these account- 
ings ; every item charged against any estate under his 
supervision in all the tens of thousands of accounts 
that came before him, still rests in the archives of the 
court with his personal check mark on it, showing 
either its allowance or disallowance. 

It was manifested time and again — and doubtless 
was the fact still more frequently without being mani- 
fested at all — that his measureless care and watchful- 
ness prevented the wrecking of estates by the un- 
scrupulousness, and oftener by the ignorance or lack 
of discretion, on the part of those legally in charge 
thereof. 

The general trust placed in his administration of 
the affairs of his court was humorously expressed by 
an old resident of means who said that it gave a man 
real pleasure to die in St. Louis because he knew that 



-67- 

his estate would be so well taken care of by Judge 
Woerner. 

That he was the most learned man in the field of 
probate law known to this day is a deliberate state- 
ment of the plain truth. His value as a judge was 
not because of that vast and practical experience on 
the probate bench which was his, nor because of 
the absolute mastery of the theoretical legal prin- 
ciples involved, which also was his, but because 
of the welding together of both of these elements 
by the strength of a master mind which un- 
derstood how practically to apply the old fundamental 
truths in the precedents, to changed existing condi- 
tions so as to preserve the living spirit without disre- 
gard of the necessary letter — how to administer vital 
human justice, instead of merely theoretical law, to 
an actual situation. 

Nor must it be forgotten that to him and his unsel- 
fish efforts the State of Missouri is indebted for many 
a useful and practical betterment of its laws on the 
administration of the estates of deceased persons, 
minors and insane persons, which he secured from the 
State Legislatures at the expenditure of much time 
and trouble. 

And in some instances he secured legislation 
very substantially cheapening the costs of admin- 
istration, thereby deliberately and materially cut- 
ting down the fees which were his own compensation. 
One noticeable case of this sort was the act enabling 
administration to be dispensed with altogether where 



— 68 — 

it appeared that the assets of the estate were under 
the amount that went to the widow (or where there 
was no widow then to minors under sixteen years) 
as the absolute allowance under the law, in prefer- 
ence even to creditors. In letters to the Judiciary 
Committee, written February 10, 1872 (when he 
still had nearly five years in office assured before the 
end of the term for which he had then been elected) , 
again in a letter to Wm. B. Thompson of January 
28, 1875, °f tne same committee in a later legisla- 
ture, also to Senator Wm. S. Pope on April 11, 1877, 
and frequently on many other occasions, and in num- 
erous conferences with the legislators, he showed the 
uselessness of multiplying expenses and fees under 
such conditions, and submitted and worked to pass 
bills he had himself prepared, to obviate this objec- 
tion. And he finally secured their passage, though 
indirectly at a loss to himself of thousands of dollars 
in fees that would otherwise have come to him. 
These enactments, as well as others which he fathered, 
have been adopted since then in many of the States 
of the Union. 

To Judge Woerner's ability as a jurist there gradu- 
ally but steadily arose during this period a grand, 
unique monument — one of such a peculiar nature that 
it can be appreciated only by those versed in the law. 
It was the marvel of his having elevated his court, by 
force of his own personality as a jurist, from its 
natural humble plane as a tribunal inferior to even the 
ordinary court of general jurisdiction, to a position of 



-69- 

dignity and authority spontaneously recognized and 
respected throughout the land by the highest courts 
and by men of the greatest legal attainments. His 
judicial opinions and decisions on matters pertaining 
to probate law came to be quietly accepted as con- 
trolling by courts technically far higher in the scale 
of authority when called upon to review his decisions 
upon appeal. 

His advice or opinion was constantly sought on dif- 
ficult or knotty questions on probate judicature, not 
only by those within his own jurisdiction, but by law- 
yers, brother probate judges, circuit judges and ap- 
pellate judges throughout the State, and in fact in all 
parts of the Union. 

How a great judge, sitting upon an appellate bench 
in review of decisions appealed to his tribunal, whose 
written opinions are preserved for all time in the 
official reports which are studied by the legal profes- 
sion as authoritative precedents binding future action, 
may achieve an enviable reputation as a great jurist, 
while a rare occurrence, is one that may be readily 
understood. But for a man to achieve that distinction 
on the humble probate bench, a court of first instance, 
whose opinions and decisions are not officially pre- 
served, and which as precedents are of no technical 
binding force whatever, is truly remarkable. 

It demonstrates the universal faith in the deep in- 
sight and legal acumen of the mind that could so> by 
its own intense personal force impress itself upon the 
legal world of his day. It must be recognized as a 



— 70 — 

distinct loss to that greatest of institutions — the law 
— the function of which it is to< secure the rights of 
mankind, that this luminous mind did not shine from 
a more commanding and authoritative tribunal. 

But be that as it may, certain it is that the 
name and fame of J. G. Woerner as Judge of 
Probate has become an enduring tradition in the 
annals and history of his city and State. His 
predecessors, his successors — good men, some of 
them, as probate judges go — have had their day, 
and gone their way. In the swift march of the 
years they dwindle to judicial foothills and mounds in 
the corrective perspective of time; while he towers 
like a solitary mountain peak whose lofty outlines 
loom up ever more clearly in the widening distance. 



LEGAL WORKS. 

TO UT while it is true that no law provided for the 
official preservation of Judge Woerner's decis- 
ions and opinions in the particular cases that came be- 
fore him, yet his long judicial career brought to the 
field of probate law an enrichment far more perma- 
nent and useful. 

It enabled him to give to the world one of the 
few really great law books, "The American Law of 
Administration." The author modestly says in the 
preface to the first edition that that "treatise origi- 
nated in the endeavor to qualify myself for the office 
of judge of probate, now more than eighteen years 
ago." 

It is the great pioneer work that evolved harmon- 
ized order in a vitally important branch of the law 
which was up to that time given over to a condition 
of hopeless chaos. 

American lawyers and courts largely looked upon 
probate law and the laws of descent and administra- 
tion of estates of deceased persons as a patchwork of 
special statutory provisions arbitrarily marking out 
the rules to be applied. As illustrative of this general 



— 72 — 

view, on one occasion while at work on this book 
in the law library at Jefferson City, Judge Woer- 
ner, in response to a request from Thomas A. Sher- 
wood, then a Justice of the Supreme Court of Mis- 
souri, explained the plan and scope of the conten> 
plated work, whereupon the latter pronounced it im- 
possible of execution, owing to the absence of a com- 
mon basis upon which to build up a general treatise 
applicable to all States, with material drawn from a 
chaotic mass of separate and distinct statutes found 
in the respective States. 

But that common basis, broad and fundamental, 
was exactly to what Judge Woerner did penetrate and 
uncover. Upon this solid foundation he built, with 
enduring patience and consummate ability, until he 
evolved from chaos and confusion a legal edifice of 
order, symmetry and grandeur which will forever 
stand an imperishable monument to his name. 

Himself thoroughly imbued with and comprehend- 
ing the new American spirit at work in moulding the 
law which he was in actual practice daily administer- 
ing in his own court, he found the correct conception 
of its real meaning and its true destiny by tracing the 
multitudinous and diverse decisions and statutes back 
through changing conditions and environments to 
their common law and ecclesiastical derivation from 
England, in turn derived from their civil and canon 
law origin, even to the laws of Justinian. 

And from the source he scientifically brings 



— 73 — 

down our probate law through its modifications 
in the Anglo-Saxon consciousness and then 
through the earlier and later American spirit, un- 
til we see that what appeared confused of mean- 
ing and purpose is yet but the natural and 
logical result of new environments. Understand- 
ing the reason of the law in the light of the condi- 
tions that gave it life, we can and should intelligently 
modify or adjust it to living conditions or discard 
what has become obsolete or injurious. Nor is it too 
much to say that this work has done much in aid of 
courts and legislatures to bring harmony, order and 
reason into the probate law of the United States, 
especially in the new Western States. 

But even the historical tracing of his subject to 
its source did not satisfy the author from his own 
viewpoint. He went to the very genesis of that 
source itself. Beginning with the thought that 
the realization of the free will of the individual 
is the essence of all property, he demonstrates 
that this realized will inheres so long as the 
thing remains property, and that the death of the 
owner does not extinguish it. The law of successions 
is but the continued recognition of this rational will of 
the deceased owner by the law itself, which supplies 
the universal or rational will for the deceased owner 
in the direction of his property in so far as he has not 
himself expressed his will, or has sought to do so 
capriciously. 



— 74 — 

The author sets forth this philosophical thought 
in the profound but beautifully concise introduc- 
tion of a few pages. And from this primordial 
thought-cell there evolves and unfolds in natural and 
logical growth the entire colossal body of testamen- 
tary 7 and probate law prevailing at this day in the 
United States, covering in every stage and detail the 
devolution of property from the death of the owner 
to its complete investiture in the new living recipient. 

The marvel is that while conceived in this broad 
philosophic setting which illumines the entire work, 
yet the book is carried out in the most intensely prac- 
tical manner down to the minutest concrete detail for 
use of the matter-of-fact busy lawyer and court, fur- 
nishing the rule, supported by exhaustive precedent, 
on about every conceivable point in probate and tes- 
tamentary law. He supplied exactly what was 
wanted, knowing exactly what was needed. 

Twelve or fifteen years Judge Woerner labored pa- 
tiently on this book, u The American Law of Adminis- 
tration," published at last in 1889 (Little, Brown & 
Co., Boston), in two large volumes. A second edi- 
tion was published ten years later ( 1899) , but a short 
time before his death. 1 

Immediately on the completion of this first work 



iAside from the general capacity required for this work, my 
connection therewith enables me to say that the prodigious 
detail labor demanded of the author for its proper completion 
is almost beyond conception. 



— 75 — 

the author entered upon the preparation of another 
great legal work, complementary of the first, namely 
"The American Law of Guardianship." This is a one 
volume work published in 1897 (Little, Brown & Co., 
Boston) . In the Administration book he had treated 
of the law where the element of free will (i. e., uni- 
versal or rational will) in property must be supplied 
by the State because of the owner's death; in the 
Guardianship he treated of the law where such free 
will in property must be supplied by the law because 
of the immaturity, or insanity, of the owner, the basic 
principle of law therefore being akin, both really 
included under the term "administration," and the 
two as supplementary or complementary of each other 
cover the entire field of probate or will-supplying 
law. 

Though these two are his greatest legal produc- 
tions, Judge Woerner found time (and how he did 
is a wonder) during his long period on the probate 
bench, to contribute occasional articles on legal sub- 
jects to law periodicals, including the South- 
ern Law Review, the American Law Review and 
the Central Law Journal. Some of these were 
advance fragments of his two great law books and 
were later published without much change as parts 
thereof. Others, however, were in the nature of 
semi-legal literary essays, as for instance his beau- 
tifully instructive article on "Sunday and Sunday 
Laws" published in the American Law Review, Vol. 
XVIII, pp. 778-800 (September-October issue, 



- 7 6- 

1 884) . This latter is illustrative of his high plane of 
thought, the dignified liberality of his views, and the 
calm beauty of his diction. Characteristic of the 
author, too, is the accuracy of his half-diffident as- 
sertions, the care in his citations and references, the 
sound logic of his broad-minded views, on a sub- 
ject which seems to have a tendency in most per- 
sons to bring to light only their narrowness and preju- 
dices in one direction or another. 



EARLY LITERARY EFFORTS. 

'IX7HILE it is true that a number of contributions 
by Judge Woerner to law periodicals on 
legal discussions or matters have been inaccessibly 
buried and lost, this is still more the case with a 
large number of literary gems, German and English, 
prose and verse, many of which were never printed. 
But many of his contributions from time to time 
brightened the pages of periodicals and newspapers, 
most of them anonymously. In the main they are 
lost and gone with the ephemeral publications in 
which they appeared. I hope in the near future to 
preserve in printed form: most of his accessible 
literary productions which have been referred to in 
this sketch, and which were never published, or which 
appeared only in newspaper form. 

Fortunately the more recent and important of his 
literary and dramatic productions he himself pre- 
served in book form. These latter, though they 
manifest care as to the form or setting, and though 
the human element is always there, yet are more 
valuable for the thought, the meaning, the appeal to 
the intellect, that characterizes the content; while of 
his early efforts the fragments that remain reflect 



- 7 8- 

rather the world of sentiment, romance and emotion 
that surged within him. 

With practically no schooling, thrown from the 
beginning on his own resources, with no helping hand 
to guide his footsteps, with all external conditions 
against him, it is wonderful to think where his instinc- 
tive qualities of heart and mind carried him. In 
none of his writings, even the earliest, is there the 
slightest indication of any lack of schooling; consid- 
ering his style, vocabulary, elegance of diction and 
other matters of form, it is amazing to think of him 
as self-taught. He was equally master of German 
and English. 

His strong love of the literary welled up spon- 
taneously from the depths of his nature, like the 
crystal waters of a great spring. 

Take as illustrative the glimpse we have already 
had of him as a mere lad of 15, from the letter (in 
strictly correct German) to his sister. Siezing a 
spare moment from his duties drudging as store clerk 
in a hamlet of the Ozarks, where he was then buried 
away from parents, relatives and the world, he 
writes to his dear sister Dorothea ("Dorle") of his 
great fortune in having received permission to read 
the books of one whom he gratefully eulogizes for 
this great boon! 

In the same letter he alludes to Christmas and 
New Year's celebrations by the folks off in St. 
Louis in pathetic contrast to conditions in the lone- 
some village; and adds that when he found a little 



— 79 — 

leisure on the next Sunday he betook himself to 
verse, "as usual on such occasions," and evolved 
eleven stanzas "about nothing" of which (so writes 
the lad of fifteen) "so she may get an idea thereof, 
he sets out a few lines." 

With becoming modesty three stanzas only are 
incorporated in the letter. As a stray leaf carelessly 
dropped on the surface far up on the stream, of time, 
and accidentally reappearing nearly seventy years 
later, and as giving us a glimpse of his inclinations 
even in those boyhood days, the original lines (the 
earliest that I have found) are here reproduced: 

Gliick auf, gliick auf, zum neuen Jahr, 
Heist's heut' wohl bei euch iiberall; 
Und ich — am ersten Januar 
Soil ich denn schweigen ganz und gar? 

Doch halt! Da fallt mir g'rad was ein, 
Ihr mocht't wohl wissen wie's hier geht — 
Wie's konnt wohl am Neujahrstag sein 
Im lieben Springfield, hubsch und klein? 

Doch hurtig nun, nur frisch drauf los 
Gewiinscht musz sein auf jeden Fall 
Drum hort Ihr, darum wiinsch ich bios 
Ich ware jetzt vom Wiinschen los! 

As another illustration of this early bent, and the 
world of sentiment that even then welled up in 
his breast, notice another New Year's ballad, five 
years later. This he addressed to Amanda Schoen- 
thaler, his dark eyed little sweetheart, then 15 years 
old, concerning whom mention was made in connec- 
tion with his young days. The flight of these five 



_8o — 

years shows a marked maturing and deepening in 
feeling. It marks the span from boyhood to man- 
hood. This second gleam from out the night of the 
afore-time appears as a leaflet (hardly now deciph- 
erable) pasted into his diary under date of May 4, 
1847, w i tn tne remark that he had indicted the lines 
to her the preceding year, at which time he must 
therefore have been twenty. Would not the tender 
sentiment of these lines do credit to any poet? Not 
to lose the fragrance in a translation, it is given as 
written : 



AN AMANDA. 
Zum neuen Jahre 1847. 



Holde Kleine, 
Siisse, Reine, 
Himmlisch schones Engel-Kind! 
Wo sind Nahmen, Dich zu nennen, 
Griffel, die Dich zeichnen konnen, 
Ziige, die Dir ahnlich sind? 

Mit Entziicken, 
Auf Dich blicken, 
Liebe Kleine, kann ich wohl; 
Kann die Wonne all' empfinden, 
Doch — wo soil ich Worte finden, 

Wenn ich Dich beschreiben soil? 

Schoner prangen 
Deine Wangen, 
Als des Friihlings Rose lacht; 
Locken, weich wie Seide, fallen 
Von dem Haupte, und unwallen 
Deinen Hals in reicher Pracht. 



-_8i — 

Deine dunkeln 
Augen funkeln 
Hehrer, als der Sterne Gluth, 
Denn in ihrem Glanze mahlet 
Deine Seele sich, und strahlet 
Engelrein so mild, und gut. 

Um die lieben 
Rosenlippen 
Zieht ein holdes Lacheln sich; 
Niemand kann dich so erblicken 
Ohne wonnenvoll Entziicken 

Und Bewunderung fur Dich! 

Ohne Sorgen 
Floh der Morgen 
Deines jungen Lebens hin; 
Schon, wie diese Stunden waren, 
Mogen auch in kiinft'gen Jahren 
Dir des Lebens Freuden bluh'n. 

Another echo of early ideas is an article in the 
"Deutche Tribune" of February 28, 1850, with 
which sheet young Woerner was connected at that 
time after his return from the Old World. He 
was then as much as 24 years old, and unmarried, 
but this did not deter him (over the initials of "J. G. 
W.") from giving pronounced views on a problem 
"the solution of which (says he) has occupied the 
greatest philosophers of all times," viz: "Wie sollen 
Kinder erzogen werden?" i. e., "How should children 
be educated?" Without permitting ourselves to be 
diverted by certain amusing considerations that 
might suggest themselves, the article really con- 
tains much food for thought, and is largely an 



— 82 — 

original appeal to parents not to neglect the 
paramount consideration of formation of char- 
acter in their offspring while looking after the 
desirable but secondary matter of mere erudition, 
learning and development of talents. In the same 
year (the date is confirmed by a reference thereto in 
a letter to his brother Christian in 1873), according 
to Scharf's History of St. Louis, "the novel 'Die 
Sklavin' was first printed as a serial in the German 
Tribune, and afterwards published in book form,, 
meeting with so rapid a sale that the edition was 
exhausted in two months;" (to the same effect see 
"Bench & Bar of Missouri Cities," 1884). I have 
never seen this story. But there is no question that 
this was quite a different work from the drama of 
the same name which he wrote subsequently, and 
which, completed 22 years later and hence belonging 
to his mature period, is referred to hereinafter. In 
both, however, the name of the heroine is Amanda — 
and the inspiration, no doubt, that Amanda whom he 
carried in his heart. 

Somewhere about those years, perhaps earlier (cer- 
tainly while he was still very young) I understand he 
gave free reign to the emotional and imaginative 
strain in him in a story, published at first serially in 
some newspaper and later, I believe, also in book or 
pamphlet form, called "Das Freudenhaus." I have 
never seen this, and the author, with his usual mod- 
esty, in his later years stated that he was glad no 
trace of it was left, as he was not proud of it. But 



-8 3 - 

however he may have regarded it from his later plane 
of thought, it is certain that this story excited at the 
time the deepest emotional interest in the public who 
read it. The issues of the serial publication were 
eagerly looked forward to by the readers, and the 
subsequent pamphlet or book edition was sold out 
almost immediately. 

The best criterion of his early writing appears in 
"Der Salon" (as was then called the Sunday edition 
of the "Anzeiger des Westens"), in the issue of Sun- 
day, December 26, 1858. This is a story, taking up 
two newspaper pages, entitled "Ein Weinachts Abend 
in St. Louis" ("A Christmas-eve in St. Louis"). 
This intensely interesting little story is good in 
descriptive detail, and wonderfully life-like and accu- 
rate in depicting the scenes of the humble life wherein 
the story moves. It is written in simple yet strangely 
powerful language. Heartgripping pathos charac- 
terizes the tale itself. It is full of the deepest and 
tenderest sentiment. In these respects, as well as in 
the general style (though written in another lan- 
guage), it reminds one strongly of Charles Dickens 
at his very best in some of his short stories. With 
compelling power young Woerner holds the interest 
of the reader while sounding the tenderest emotional 
depths of pity, sympathy and love, as the pathetic 
little story unfolds to a final happy conclusion. This 
story is typical of the German Christmas-eve spirit. 
We find a reference to the story in a letter the author 
wrote to Maggie Stiltz ( a cousin, I believe) on Dec. 



-8 4 - 

ioth, 1865, an extract from which may be of interest 
in this connection, as breathing the German Christ- 
m!as-eve spirit: 

"Dear Maggie, you suggest in your last that 
winter is at hand, and Christmas fast approaching. 
It is, to me, a most happy and glorious time ; and 
even now when I am anything but the innocent 
child, for whose especial benefit this festival is cele- 
brated, when I ami close upon that period of life, 
when even Suabians are, by common consent, al- 
lowed to come in for a share of common-sense, 1 
I still look forward with fond anticipation to the 
advent of Christmas. How merrily the bells chime 
on Christmas Eve! What an atmosphere of a 
general, universal Holiday-weather is ushered in 
by them, no matter whether frosty or mild, whether 
rain or shine, whether snow or hail ! A bright 
nimbus surrounds old and young, the toy shops and 
stores of all sorts pour forth a perfect river of 
presents to big and little children, happy faces meet 
you on all sides, and enjoyment — keen, frolicsome, 
child-like enjoyment is depicted upon every coun- 
tenance. Even the ladies who promenade in the 
dazzling gas-light on Fourth Street, forget to 
scream at the explosion of fire-crackers in alarm- 
ing proximity to crinoline; even the stately mer- 
chant, who has long forgotten, in his laborious and 
absorbing occupation of acquiring money, money, 
money, the enjoyment of life, lingers near the bon- 
fire kindled in the middle of the street by enthus- 
iastic boys. All hail to Christmas, the season of 
Love, and Forbearance, and Reconciliation. 

"And Christmlas is so near! But two weeks 



lr rhe point here is lost to those not familiar with a certain Sua- 
bian joke, relative to attaining 40. 



-8 5 - 

from to-day. When ... I read it in your 
letter, I recollected that several years ago I had 
written a little story about Christmas. I wonder 
if, like me, you are fond of Christmas. If you 
are, you will like that story, and I am going to 
have it printed and send it to my cousins in Phila- 
delphia for a Christmas present. But if you are 
not as enthusiastic a lover of the glorious holiday 
as I am, you will laugh at me for my silliness; for 
it is a very simple, artless story of a Christmas-eve, 
designed to acquaint Americans with that pleasant 
fiction of the Germans, ' Christkindchen.' I can- 
not but think that Christkindchen is a favorite of 
yours and that little Harry Wagner and your other 
little nephews and nieces will come in for a large 
share of its favors. 

"Tomorrow Mrs. Schilling will pay us a visit, 
and probably remain all night, for the purpose of 
helping my wife at baking 'Springerle.' This is 
another German custom, without which, at least to 
us Suabians, Christmas could not be thought of. 
In my memory, Christmas is as inseparably con- 
nected with a Christmas tree, with 'Springerle' 
(ask Margaret, your mother, what that means, if 
you do not already know) and with 'Lebkuchen' 
as a well fatted turkey, to a down-East Yankee, 
with Thanksgiving Day." 

Though in time hardly within young Woerner's 
early literary period, perhaps a bit of verse may be 
interpolated in this connection which grew out of his 
experiences at the State capital in the early sixties, 
where Senator Woerner made many warm friends, 
not all of them statesmen. Among these was the 
trim and pretty young Pauline (daughter of a well 



— 86 — 

known Cole County citizen by the name of Chris 
Wagner) — Pauline Wagner — between whom and 
him, ever after and until her death (and in fact with 
the entire Wagner family) there existed the warmest 
friendship and mutual interest. It is she whom he 
idealizes as the Pauline Waldhorst in "The Rebel's 
Daughter.' ' 

Upon her marriage at Jefferson City to Samuel 
W. Scovern in 1869, he composed the following lines, 
which appear in connection with the printed notice, 
found in my father's scrapbook, and also upon a gilt- 
printed leaflet preserved by him. They were written 
by him for the occasion. It will be observed that 
reading downward the first letter of each line spells 
the name, "Pauline Scovern:" 

LINES 

ON 

PAULINE'S WEDDING. 

Pure as her bridal robe of brightness, 
All radiant in her loveliness and grace; 
Unsullied as the lily's virgin whiteness, 
Love beaming from her sweet, angelic face, 
In placid, dove-like innocence and beauty, 
Near to the one whose sacred, holy duty 
E'er forth 'twill be to shield her from all harm: 

So stands she there, a smiling, blushing bride! 
Close fold around her thy protecting arm, 
O thou, in whose fond vow she does confide! 
Vows joyously exchanged! O let them aye 
Enjoin on thee, what holy trust — to bless — 
Rests now on thee, which thou canst ne'er defy 
Nor shirk, save at the cost of happiness! 



-8 7 - 

And in Judge Woerner's own handwriting, writ- 
ten by him for the tenth anniversary of that mar- 
riage, hence in 1879, ls tne following additional 
gem, which is here interpolated for convenience, al- 
though in 1879 it could hardly be classed as among 
his early literary verses: 

TEN YEARS AGO. 

The garden's rarest gem I knew: 
A lovely rosebud, bathed in dew, 

Just peeping from its mossy bed of green; 
And from each dew-drop mirrored shone 
Transcendent beauty, all its own, 

And blushing sweetly, owned itself: Pauline. 

Aurora's smile was on its face, 

The Zephyrs paused in fond embrace 
And Phoebus tarried o'er the lovely scene; 

He kissed the bud in rapt'rous bliss; 

It blushed the more beneath his kiss, 
And opened to a lovely rose: Pauline! 

Attracted by her beauty's fame, 

A noble stranger boldly came 
And homage paid the garden's glorious queen. 

Now on his bosom blooms the rose, 

And fairer still and sweeter grows, 
As fondly, he, and proudly, holds Pauline. 

Three rosebuds now encircle round 
The rose he in the garden found — 

No sweeter buds man's eye has even seen; 
Protected by his strong, firm hand 
And cherished fondly, they expand 

In beauty rivaled only by Pauline. 



LATER LITERARY WORKS 
"DIE SCLAVIN." 

LJIS youthful literary efforts, as already stated, 
manifested a disposition to utter the emo- 
tional world of sentiment that surged within his 
breast and bubbled over in his writings. But 
whether because of maturer years, or family re- 
sponsibilities, or because of the terrible sobering 
ordeal of the Civil War which stirred the deepest 
nature of all real men of those days, or because 
of the influence of his study in the immediate 
post-bellum years of the Hegelien philosophy, or 
perhaps because of all these influences; at all events 
in his subsequent productions it is the thought or con- 
tent which constitutes the soul of his writings. 

Though always very careful of his language, dic- 
tion, style, yet these now formed but the outward 
beautiful or striking garb in which he clothed the 
truth he sought to illustrate or convey. He appre- 
ciated to the full the harmony of form and content, 
but he never sacrificed substance for appearance, 
never betrayed the soul for the body. Even his minor 
literary efforts manifested the same characteristics. 
For instance, his splendid thought-pregnant address 
on Mozart and Rossini at the unveiling of the busts 
of those great tone-poets, at Tower Grove Park on 
Sunday, July 16, 1882; and his keen, masterful re- 



-8 9 ~ 

view of his friend Denton J. Snider's book, "A Walk 
in Hellas," in an elaborate article appearing in the 
St. Louis "Republican" of Nov. 17, 1881. 

Earnest seeker for truth and right by nature, inher- 
iting a broad love of freedom for humanity with his 
German blood, understanding the American spirit of 
the slave-holders and original backwoodsmen of the 
South and West by actual life and contact with them 
for years during the most impressionable period of 
life, appreciating the prejudices of North and South 
toward each other, in short understanding by nature, 
study and experience the enormity of the awful ques- 
tions convulsing the Nation, drenching it in blood, 
and in the solution of which he himself participated — 
no wonder that these terrible problems, their meaning 
and solution, play a large part in the subsequent 
literary productions of a man such as he. 

One of the carefully wrought out works dealing 
with the question of ante-bellum slavery is a drama 
entitled "Die Sclavin" (but different from the 
earlier novel of that name). It was first written in 
German, completed in 1873 ; ^ ater ^ so m English un- 
der the title "Amanda, the Slave." 

For a number of years Judge Woerner devoted to 
the preparation of this drama, in German, such time 
as was not employed in the fulfillment of official 
duties and paramount demands. It went on the boards 
for the first time on January 23, 1874, at the "Apol- 
lo" — the then German theatre of St. Louis, situated 
on Fourth Street a little South of Poplar. The house 



— go — 

"was crowded from pit to gallery, and representing 
the most select portion of at least the German play- 
going public. ... At the close of the third act 
'a perfect storm of applause broke spontaneously from 
the audience, and deafening cheers called the author 
three times before the curtain . . . and at the 
end of the fourth and fifth acts he was again and 
again called out amidst the most unbounded ap- 
plause." 

It is safe to say that Judge Woerner was deeply 
pleased with the reception his splendid drama received 
from 1 the public. Writing shortly thereafter to 
George Stiltz, and while still in the flush of success, 
he says of his recent "dabbling in literature" that 
"I have perpetrated a drama in five acts: 'Die 
Sclavin/ which was performed at the Apollo Theater 
of this city, for the first time on the 23 rd ult., to a 
very crowded house — filled, no doubt, very largely 
if not entirely by personal friends. This later circum- 
stance contributed in no small degree to lessen my 
gratification over the very enthusiastic applause with 
which my piece was received. . . . But the most 
gratifying proof of the popularity of 'Die Sclavin' 
is the fact, that it has been played to equally crowded 
houses ever since — at least until last Tuesday, when 
I withdrew it to make some necessary alterations ; and 
the applause was equally enthusiastic in every repeti- 
tion. . . . Of course, there were a great many 
little incongruities in the performance, and the actors 
did not quite come up to my idea of how the piece 



— 9 i — 

should be played; but I have learned forebearance 
in the course of my experience, and am grateful for 
even 'small favors;' and I was particularly fortunate 
in seeing the character of my heroine placed in the 
charge of a most talented young actress, whose gen- 
ius and persevering assiduity in studying enabled her 
to make herself thoroughly familiar with it. She 
rendered it gloriously, and I feel that I am deeply 
indebted to her for the success which the piece has 
met." 

Let me here say that this was Clotilde Koppe, 
afterwards Stephany. She afterwards frequently 
played the part both in German and in English. A 
warm friendship sprang up between her and the au- 
thor as well as his entire family, and for years she 
was a frequent guest of the Woerners and spent many 
an enjoyable time with them. 

The play was in fact an immediate success and was 
thereafter frequently repeated from time to time, 
always to crowded houses. After the initial run it 
was reproduced at subsequent periods in the Apollo 
and in later years in the then People's Theatre, and 
in the Olympic, both in English and German. It cre- 
ated at the time the greatest enthusiasm among the 
Germans and German-Americans, who not only were 
proud of its author but to whose consciousness of the 
subject-matter it gave true expression. In subse- 
quent years it was reproduced in other of the large 
American cities. Some years after its first appearance 
the author transcribed the work into English and as 



—92— 

above stated, the drama was played in that language 
under the title of "Amanda, the Slave." The Ger- 
man version was printed and copyrighted by the au- 
thor in 1 89 1. 

The play was performed on the boards (in addi- 
tion to the initial performances in January, 1874), so 
far as I have been able to ascertain, on the following 
occasions: February 6th, 7th and 8th, 1874, at the 
Apollo in St. Louis, with Frau Traupel as Amanda; 
April 10th, 1874, at the same place, Clotilde Koppe 
as Amanda; January 8th and 10th, 1875, at the 
Stadt-theater in Cincinnati, Clotilde Koppe as Aman- 
da; November 26th and December 1st, 1875, at the 
Apollo in St. Louis, Miss Von Vietinghoff as 
Amanda; March 10th, 1878, at the Olympic in St. 
Louis, Miss Lindemann as Amanda; February 3rd, 
1 88 1, at the Thalia, Pittsburg, Frida Tietz as 
Amanda; February 2nd, 3rd (and matinee on 3rd), 
1883, at the People's Theatre, St. Louis, in Eng- 
lish, Clotilde Stephany (formerly Koppe) as 
Amanda; December 1st, 1889, at Aurora-Turn- 
halle, Chicago; in the spring of 1890 at the Ger- 
man Theatre in Buffalo; February 18, 1891, by the 
German Stock Company at Exposition Hall, St. 
Louis, Johanna Botz as Amanda; October 28th, 
1 89 1, at Stadt-theater in Cincinnati, Mrs. Molchin 
as Amanda. And I have no doubt that the drama 
was performed at other times and cities which I have 
been unable to trace. 

This drama is entitled to rank as a classic. The 



— 93 — 

language is strong, lofty, chaste. The poetic lines 
move smoothly in noble Iambic pentameter, perfect 
blank verse, and in the climaxes in rhyme as well. 
The figures of speech are beautiful and strikingly 
expressive. The setting presents a faithful picture 
of life in the interior of Missouri before the war. 
The author himself said that all the characters were 
modelled from real life and are largely drawn from 
his own recollections of thirty years theretofore. 
The characters are true to the reality of the time and 
place of the play; the scenes and incidents are no- 
where overdrawn, extravagancies nowhere apparent. 

The plot is conceived with great power. It is 
developed with admirable skill, foreshadowed in 
the first act, carried through the grand climax in 
the third and on to the instructive optimistic conclu- 
sion in the fifth. The interest is fettered from the 
beginning to the end. The tense strain of the great 
dramatic climaxes is relieved by timely intervals of 
pure fun, sunny humor, and pictures of the pleasant 
side of plantation negro life. 

Yet to the really competent critic the whole work 
reveals itself as but the beautiful setting for the cen- 
tral truth which, in such concrete form, this poetic 
drama teaches. Not in philosophical abstractions, 
but through the living facts of an interesting story, 
shines the thought behind and beneath it all. 

The drama typifies the inherent contradiction to the 
fundamental American ideal which was involved in 
the recognition by the Government in ante-bellum 



— 94 — 

times of the right of the respective States of the 
Union at will either to maintain or abolish slavery 
within their borders. This contradiction lies in the 
disregard of the sacredness of the person, upon 
which liberty, i. e., the essence of the State itself, 
rests. The State in recognizing slavery treats man 
as thing, thereby negating the true conception of 
itself, which necessitates regarding man as possessing 
free will, and as inviolable in his person. Therefore, 
if the wrong done to humanity by slavery is to be 
depicted in the realm of art, the collision must neces- 
sarily be tragic, since in it either the State maintain- 
ing this contradiction must go down because of it, or 
the slave vainly seeking to vindicate his humanness 
must be crushed beneath the might of the State. The 
law is the actualized free or rational will of man. 
The slave has not free will, yet he is man. How can 
man rationally will that man shall have no will? 

This collision in all its broadness is, however, not 
necessitated here, because the law in question is not 
directed against humanity in general but only against 
a particular race — one which owing to miany charac- 
teristics (mainly that of a lower intellect) was re- 
garded from the then American standpoint as an 
inferior one, rightly to be subordinated to the white. 
This American misconception was the natural result 
of the lack of true freedom on the part of the negro 
himself, i. e., he preferred life as a slave to freedom 
to be attained, if necessary, through death; the negro 
thus failed to attain to> humanness in its highest sense 



~95~ 

— not being truly a free-man from an artistic or phil- 
osophical view. It was this status of the negro that 
caused the great solecism to become institutionalized 
in American law, decreeing that man was not man — a 
contradiction that brought such frightful havoc, not to 
the slave, but to the master, who thus logically denied 
and belied himself. "For not till he sees in all men 
the image of his own freedom, can he be truly free ; 
their limit is in reality his limit ; as long as his brother 
is a slave he cannot be fully emancipated." 

It were an unprofitable task to present from the 
dramatic standpoint the collision between the negro, 
as victim of the law, and the white race, represent- 
ing the State; for as yet there has appeared no true 
hero or champion of African blood in whom art could 
truly typify this tragic collision. No free-man can 
be held as slave, and as corollary no slave can be a 
free-man. Only the Caucasian — in this play Aman- 
da, erroneously supposing herself as legally a slave 
— can will to remain slave, because she herself wills 
that the law, as the higher right, must be vindicated 
as against the individual. 

The real contradiction of slavery as an institution 
must therefore be illustrated from the art-view as 
arising wholly within the Caucasian race. And hereby 
poetic justice also is done, the wrong being shown as 
avenging itself upon the race that created it. But, 
presented in this field, the solution of the artistic col- 
lision is now no longer necessarily or logically a tragic 
one. In so far as the enslavement of a Caucasian is 



- 9 6- 

itself contrary to law it is a wrong against the State ; 
there must follow therefore a reconciliatory solu- 
tion, or, more accurately, the elimination of the col- 
lision itself. The heorine of the play therefore is a 
Caucasian, and a slave only as the victim of an in- 
trigue. Laying bare with startling vividness and 
artistic beauty the fundamental wrong of negro slav- 
ery, and losing nothing of the message the drama 
breathes, the author yet in the end thus avoids an 
otherwise inevitable tragic outcome. 

So far as the dramatic form with its appeal to the 
popular interest is concerned, this drama received the 
high compliment of being copied or imitated in later 
years by professional playwrights in "The White 
Slave" and other similar plays, but upon a thought- 
plane that lies much lower than that of the original. 



"THE REBEL'S DAUGHTER." 

T> UT of all the literary writings of J. G. Woerner 
the most significant and important, for several 
reasons, is "The Rebel's Daughter," finally com- 
pleted in the last year of his life, and published in 
October or November, shortly before his death. 
(Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1899.) 

This is a novel, but perhaps first conceived to 
become a play; for, writing of his "Selavin" to 
an actor friend (Charles Krone, still living in St. 
Louis) on March 28, 1881, the author said: "I mean 
to have it printed and get it out of my mind as a 
thing of the past — ein iiberwundener Standpunkt. 
Another play is haunting my mind; an ideal of a 
Southern woman, purified and chastened by the 
fierce war of rebellion and representing the triumph 
of Truth and Freedom over the negative phases 
through which American civilization has passed. The 
collision will, I think, be truer and more artistic 
than in the 'Selavin.' " There can be no doubt that 
he had in mind what in its fruitage became "The 
Rebel's Daughter." In fact, even while the novel 
was still hatching, he translated it in temporary dra- 
matic form, for the benefit of a German Stock 
Company playing in St. Louis that season, which 



- 9 8- 

performed it under the name of "Die Rebellin" 
on March 21st, 1894, Rosa Nordman taking the 
part of Nellie May. The play was well re- 
ceived, and during the performance Judge Woerner 
was forced by the applause to appear upon the stage, 
where he was presented with a magnificent token of 
the friendship and appreciation of a number of the 
most prominent of St. Louis' citizens. 

This novel as finally evolved is in English. It is 
written in a refreshing style peculiar to the author. 
The fascinating romance is couched in charming lan- 
guage; or, as the changing phases of the story re- 
quire, in diction of pathetic gentleness, or of titanic 
power. 

But it is far more than a story of "Love, Politics 
and War" as the author call it. True, to the man or 
woman who likes high-class fiction for its own sake 
it is entertaining and interesting. But he who looks 
deeper, traces in and through the incidents and char- 
acters of a fascinating story the development and 
treatment of the greatest problem with which Amer- 
ica has ever grappled, and sees therein the delineation 
by a master mind of the big and little strengths and 
weaknesses of each respective side, of their lights and 
shadows, of the final fundamental conflict viewed 
from the commanding standpoint of Universal His- 
tory, and of the inevitable decree that speaks the 
judgment of the World-Spirit of the time. 

To him who sees, there is in the characters and 
stormy careers of Victor Waldhorst and of Nellie 



May poetically typified the Great Conflict, and the 
logical destiny, or rather reconciliation, of the North 
and the South — yea, even to the final indissoluble 
Union of these two characters that crowns the out- 
come. 

There is much else of great permanent value in 
this work, besides its artistic worth and philosophic 
value. While the author was (perhaps unfortu- 
nately) persuaded not directly to localize by desig- 
nating name or place, there is no mistaking many of 
the scenes and characters. The first part especially, 
portrays the life and environment of the author's 
youthful years in the Ozarks of Missouri. It paints 
a word picture which brings out with life-like and 
startling distinctness the delicate lights and shadows 
of the genuine American spirit of the ante-bellum 
days and scenes of which it treats. The writer is the 
complete master of his subject and faithful to his 
mission. Viewed from the impersonal standpoint of 
futurity, it is and will increasingly become of great 
and greater value for the years to come, in preserv- 
ing with rare fidelity and accuracy a once typical 
and now fast fading phase marking the spirit and 
development of American life. 

But from the personal standpoint of those inter- 
ested in his life, to the dwindling remnant of those 
who knew him in person, and particularly to his own 
descendants, this work, especially the earlier chap- 
ters, is of inestimable interest. The conviction is un- 
avoidable and everywhere corroborated by known 



— 100 — 

facts, that the writer was part and parcel of his sub- 
ject. Many of the scenes and incidents are the bright 
reproductions of vivid recollections of his youthful 
days which lingered with him lovingly to the end. 

It is to be remembered, however, that the personal 
parallel between the author and the Victor of the 
novel continues only through the first part of the 
book, or that portion up to the breaking out of the 
war. 

Some of the analogies between the early life of 
the boy Victor in the novel and that of the man who 
created him, have already been pointed out when 
tracing the author's early career. But the parallel 
through that part of the work runs along much fur- 
ther. One who knows, recognizes in the shy, self- 
conscious, over-conscientious Victor, in his modest 
deference to others, in his loyalty and earnest grati- 
tude for recognition of any kind, and above all in 
his anxious solicitude to do his whole duty at any 
cost, the same characteristics in the author. One 
who at all understood him can read between the 
lines the details of the career of a man devoted to 
principle and unswerving in his adherence to the 
right. 

And many of the incidents in the life of Victor 
represent similar experiences in the life of the 
author, and the general development as depicted in 
the early chapters of the novel is very like his own. 
It is seen in the advent to Brookfield (that is, to 
Springfield) as he related it to the Mays (see ante 



— 101 



p. 9) ; in the clerking at the village stores in which 
even the name Miller is preserved (see ante p. 16) ; 
in the backwoods local games as described in the 
novel (chapter XV, pages 234 to 237), which are a 
substantial reproduction of the description in young 
Gabriel's Waynesville letter to his sister of November 
12, 1842 (see ante pp. 17-18) ; in the views of the 
Sunday and Sunday laws ("Gambrinus Under a 
Cloud," chap. XVI), with which laws the times dealt 
when the author was practicing law; in the phik> 
sophical discussions at the dinner table (as I myself 
when a boy, sitting at the same table, have heard 
them from the lips of the Rauhenfels, Taylor and 
Altrue of the novel, being respectively the Henry C. 
Brokmeyer, Denton J. Snider and Wm. T. Harris in 
the life) ; and so in a hundred other details and in- 
cidents. 

Nearly all the characters in the book typify or per- 
sonify actual individuals, who either came closely into 
the life of the author or who are historical characters 
of those times. One who knows the men of the days 
of which the book treats can see, through the veil of 
the story, in many of its characters, distinguished 
war-time Missourians, the characterizations in some 
instances being almost startling in their accuracy. All 
of the characters are veiled by disguised, but often 
significant, names. 

To the few who knew the characters impersonated 
there is added by reason thereof a most charming 
flavor in the perusal of this story. It cannot be fully 



— 102 — 

appreciated without this knowledge. One cannot 
help regretting that this charm and appreciation must 
largely be lost to those who are wholly impersonal 
to the characters represented, although at all events 
a true characterization of notable persons somehow 
carries with it a feeling of interest to the general 
reader, who, though unaware of the reason, gets a 
vivid impression in such case which is invariably ab- 
sent when the characters are the artificial creations 
of an author's mind. 

So far as the characters are historic there can be 
no objection to disclosing their identity, indeed to a 
well versed reader, no necessity; and so far as these 
characters are not historic, their identification after 
this generation would be impossible, with a conse- 
quent loss of some of the meaning and interest in the 
book. So far as I have been able to ascertain, the 
characters and places typified in the novel correspond 
to the originals as follows : 

Victor Waldhorst (during the first part of the 
novel) is the author, in his early life. 

Nellie May is the idealization of Frances Camp- 
bell, a girl of Springfield, Mo., or the vicinity, a 
contemporary of the author in his Springfield days, 
who died at the age of 20 or 21; she was the 
elder sister of Mrs. Rush Campbell Owen, now of 
Springfield, Mo., to> whom the book is dedicated, 
and whom the author found still living in 1899. 

Leslie May is largely a fictional character, but 
based on the brother of Frances Campbell. 

May Meadows probably idealizes the Camp- 
bell home before the war. (See the dedication.) 



— 103 — 

Brookfield is Springfield, Mo. 

Vernal County is Green County, Mo. 

Von Braaken is De Bruin. 

The Metropolis is St. Louis. 

Busch Bluff — the author's homestead from 
about 1 86 1 to 1880, on Marine Avenue, St. Louis, 
near the bluffs of the Mississippi River. 

Professor Rauhenfels is Lieut.-Gov. Henry C. 
Brokmeyer of Missouri (now deceased). The lit- 
eral meaning of "Rauhenfels" in German is signifi- 
cant of Brokmeyer's character. 

Pauline Waldhorst is an idealization of Miss 
Pauline Wagner, later Mrs. Sam Seovern, of Jef- 
ferson City (now deceased). 

Professor Altrue is Prof. Wm. T. Harris, then 
of St. Louis, later of Washington, D. C. (now de- 
ceased). 

Doctor Taylor is Denton J. Snider, of St. Louis. 
(The German word for tailor is "Schneider" — i. 
e., Snider.) 

General Hart is modelled after Senator Thomas 
Hart Benton of Missouri; this character is of 
course intended as slightly anachronistic as Benton 
died several years before the war. 

General Ciper is General Sterling Price (trans- 
position of letters). 

Doctor McDonald and McDonald's College re- 
spectively correspond to Dr. McDowell, and Mc- 
Dowell's College, formerly at Eighth and Gratiot 
Streets, St. Louis, both famous in local history. 

Battle of Winslo's Run — Wilson's Creek 
(transposition of letters). 

General Seele — General Sigel. (The English 
word for seal is the German word "Siegel.") 

General Lowe — General Lyon. (Lion is in 
German Lowe.) 



— 104 — 

Unquestionably many, if not most, of the other 
characters also represent or are modelled after actual 
individuals in the author's mind, but they are not 
within the recognition of the writer hereof, and their 
identity cannot now be ascertained, by reason of the 
lapse of time which has carried to the beyond not 
only the individuals themselves but those who might 
have given light as to their identity. 

The "Rebel's Daughter" was first begun in Ger- 
man just after Judge Woerner had finished his drama 
"Die Sclavin," but after a few years' work had been 
devoted thereto the partially written story was re- 
written and carried on to completion in English. 
Even before the work was completed, the venerable 
author was planning its translation into German, but 
it was destined (except as temporarily dramatized for 
"Die Rebellin") that he be not spared to the world 
for that. 

The work was completed in the summer of 1899 
after a quarter of a century of shaping. Just as this 
life-story was finally completed, yea even while on 
his way to make the finishing arrangements for its 
publication, the grand old man was stricken. 

The publication of the book that meant so 
much to him was expedited as much as possible by 
the family. Thev had at least the one consolation 
of knowing that the readings to him from the printed 
book (for he could no longer see to read himself) 
brightened a little the sadness of the twilight days of 
his beautiful and useful life. 



— 105 — 

It miay not be amiss to add that a warm discussion 
arose when Winston Churchill's novel, "The Crisis," 
was published about a year after the "Rebel's Daugh- 
ter." It grew out of the striking similarity between 
the two books in many respects, and the assertion 
was frequently made that "The Crisis," consciously 
or unconsciously, was largely an imitation of "The 
Rebel's Daughter." This, however, may be dismissed 
with the reflection that if it be so, it is a high compli- 
ment to the older book and shows that Churchill 
knew a good thing when he saw it. And his book 
at least is so different in treatment and method as to 
exonerate him from the charge of manifest plagiarism 



RECREATIONS. 

T^OR J. G. WQERNER recreation meant a change 
from one form of activity to another. Idleness, 
inactivity, was a trial to him hard to bear. 

From his youngest days he utilized all his spare 
time. In this way he succeeded in acquiring for him- 
self a knowledge of the elements of music, he early 
played the guitar, later became proficient on the 
flute, tried his skill at composition for the piano. The 
old diary of his European trip shows him teaching 
himself shorthand. He became through his own ef- 
forts a splendid scholar in the German and English 
languages, and complete master of both. In addi- 
tion he dipped into Latin and French, spoke fluently 
Low-Dutch and certain kindred vernaculars. He 
knew something about higher mathematics, of the 
Fine Arts, of Culture in general. During his journal- 
istic period, especially, he made use of his opportuni- 
ties to amass for himself a vast store of information, 
not only literary, but of a general nature. In short, 
in the course of his life he acquired knowledge of a 
large number of subjects, even those technical and 
scientific, as well as general and literary. 

His favorite recreation, if we omit mention of his 
own literary productions, of course consisted in read- 
ing, over which field he took the widest range. 



— 107 — 

Throughout his active life he was a reader of lit- 
erature in general, and was familiar with its best 
fruit. Not only the heavier, but his broad talent of 
appreciation enabled him to cull with pleasure and 
satisfaction the lighter gems of filction of all kinds. 
To the end of his years he was never above enjoying 
a really good novel; rare were those he had not read, 
of little note the author of whom he did not know 
something. He was well versed in History, Ameri- 
can and general, in the Bible, in the classics, in short 
in literary culture in general. 

Nor should mention be omitted that in middle life 
he was a keen student of the great German philoso- 
pher, Hegel, whose optimistic philosophy (when cor- 
rectly conceived) accorded so much with Judge Woer- 
ner's own views. Among the most prized in his large 
library was a complete set of Hegel's works, in the 
original German. Traces of his study thereof (espe- 
cially of "Philosophic des Rechts") may be seen 
in his legal works (for instance, the Introduction to 
his "American Law of Administration" heretofore 
alluded to), and also in the general trend of his 
thought. His attention to this system of philosophy 
was perhaps first directed as a result of his acquaint- 
ance with Lieut-Gov. Brokmeyer and Dr. Wm. T. 
Harris. These two, as well as Dr. Denton J. Snider, 
and the nature and character of their discussions 
with each other, are delightfully portrayed in several 
chapters of "The Rebel's Daughter," being respec- 
tively represented therein, as already stated, in the 



— io8 — 

characters of Professor Rauhenfels, Professor Altrue 
and Doctor Taylor (see for instance the chapter, 
"Philosophy of Carving," pp. 280-292, and chapter 
"Philosophers at Tea," pp. 420-430). 

But though a profound student of the great 
philosopher, Gabriel Woerner was never a doc- 
trinaire. A prominent, albeit hopelessly "practi- 
cal," lawyer in St. Louis once thoughtfully re- 
marked to me that he believed that Judge 
Woerner was the only man, so far as he knew, 
whose vision of the realities of life had been left un- 
dimmed by the study of philosophy, and who in fact 
had even been able to make a sound practical appli- 
cation of its abstract doctrines to the actual affairs 
of life — a concession, considering the man who said 
it, intended as a high tribute. 

But Gabriel Woerner so economized his time that 
his reading, research in the realms of profound 
thought, philosophy, study of the classics, authorship 
of works legal, literary and dramatic, by no means 
filled the measure of the time left at his disposal 
after performance of his official and business duties. 
His energies were boundless. 

Of the lighter recreations, in some strange manner 
he seemed to have learned about every game of cards, 
or like game, that ever was invented, and was always 
willing to teach others who desired to learn. How 
fond he was at 21 of the game of Solo has already 
been mentioned (see items in his diary of 1847 here- 
tofore referred to in connection with his early life). 



— 109 — 

In later years he was particularly fond of a good 
game of whist or skat, especially with those of his 
own domestic circle. He was both a skillful and en- 
thusiastic player, and everybody liked to play with 
him. 

Even better he loved to play chess, in which 
he ranked high. This noble game he insisted on 
teaching me, encouraging the acquisition of a system- 
atic and scientific knowledge of the game. Over 
a period of many years we two spent many and many 
a pleasant hour, especially on Sunday mornings in 
the winter months, mastering its secrets, and engag- 
ing in amicable but fierce combat over the checkered 
field of battle. He also enjoyed what has been de- 
scribed as the "poetry of chess," that is the compo- 
sition and solution of chess problems, a number of 
his compositions being published in newspaper chess- 
columns. 

But while he enjoyed all these diversions with a 
hearty zest, through all his days there was never 
a time that there was not some serious work to which 
he was devoting his real energies. It would have 
been so with him had he lived the length of a hun- 
dred lives — this was ingrained in his character, and 
he simply could not do otherwise. 



CHARACTERISTICS. 

'"IpHE traits, characteristics, the true character of 
the man, appear from his deeds and activities. 
His whole life was a mirror of his real self. His truer 
and more general character must therefore be judged, 
if judged at all from this inadequate sketch, in the 
light of all else that is set forth herein, rather than 
from what is said in this immediate connection, which 
touches more the minor and personal coloring of his 
life. 

The statement above is accurate, his life was the 
perfect mirror of his soul. One of his striking char- 
acteristics was what, for lack of a better word, I 
might call his directness. Candid as he was honest, 
he looked every situation squarely in the eye; obli- 
quity, sophistry, made conscious of itself by the con- 
trast, squirmed and quailed unwillingly. 

His directness to get to the marrow and essence 
was often manifested in private discussion and argu- 
ment on subjects of interest to> him,, in which he 
delighted to participate. He loved an argument not 
so much for its own sake but rather as a means to get 
the truth, and to help his fellow-men to get it. A 
stranger to indirection and evasion, in every phase of 



— Ill — 

life, so in this. He accorded an arguing opponent 
(often without being merited) the same sincerity of 
purpose that he possessed himself, and proceeded ir- 
resistibly to batter down with sound argument and 
powerful logic every intrenchment behind which 
sophistry, subterfuge or speciousness sought refuge, 
and laid bare with enthusiastic emphasis the fallacy 
of an unsound proposition. 

Socially, th< ' Woerner home was always hospitably 
open to relatives and friends, whom he liked to enter- 
tain, and whose society he enjoyed. But for the 
formal and empty functions of what is commonly 
called "society" he cared nothing, and avoided them 
whenever he could. 

He supported worthy organizations and belonged 
to a few formal clubs, but for the latter had neither 
the time nor the inclination to attend the meetings. 
So, although he belonged to the Masonic fraternity 
and met his obligations, and for a time participated 
in the work (being the first Worshipful Master of 
Meridian N'o. 2, a blue-lodge conducting its work in 
German) yet he soon drifted away and in later years 
took no active part whatever. 

To all of such things he preferred home and do- 
mestic life, and to put in his time in his reading and 
especially to devote it to his literary and legal works. 

Among his characteristics also belong his weak- 
nesses. For he had such, at least measured by the 
standards of some. But they were in the main the 
misunderstood modesty of a refined nature, of a ten- 



112 



derness towards his fellow-men, of a disposition to 
give them' the liberal benefit of every doubt. 

When only his own interests were involved, he 
lacked the quality of a pushing self-assertion towards 
others, so often of value in this busy world of ours 
where men are in general hastily taken at their own 
appraisement of themselves. Yet when a matter of 
principle was at stake, or the vindication of the in- 
terests of others, he was aggressive, and firm as ada- 
mant. Perhaps it is true that he was generous to a 
fault, sometimes to persons others would have 
thought unworthy. It may be he gave too much of his 
time to such as imposed upon him in that respect, and 
whom the average man would have avoided or re- 
buffed. And perhaps he disliked too much to refuse 
financial aid to persons who really had no substantial 
claim to ask it. He may have erred in giving when 
help was not needed. But it is certain, at least, that 
in no case within his knowledge where help was 
needed, did he fail to respond — nay anticipate — to 
the measure of his ability. 

Then again, many considered him foolishly con- 
scientious in the affairs of life. For instance, he 
always returned for taxation all the taxable property 
he owned, though otherwise inaccessible to the tax 
assessor's knowledge; he was the shining exception 
to the conventional practice of dodging taxes on in- 
tangible property and investments. 

Yet is not this spirit of conscientiousness the real, 
the only, proof of fundamental sincerity and sound- 



— ii3 — 

ness of man's honesty, of his honor? He must do 
right for its own sake; must respect the general or 
public call as he does the concrete or individual. 

A similar symptom of this phase of his character 
showed itself when during his long term as Probate 
Judge he was the initiator and prime mover of much 
legislation calculated to cheapen the cost of admin- 
istration of estates, whereby, in the general interest, 
he lost thousands of dollars in fees that were flowing 
to him from the very sources he dried up. Wherever 
he could, he cut down the costs of administration, with 
an unselfishness that was in no way abated because 
of the fact that it was not appreciated by the gen- 
eral public, nor even known to those whom it ben- 
efited. 

He was never what in these days is termed a money- 
maker, though, after being fairly launched, he never 
lacked for money; nor, indeed, was he a money- 
saver to any great extent. That he was fully con- 
scious of his want of financial shrewdness or cun- 
ning, may be surmised from an excerpt from a letter 
written to his brother Christian in Moehringen in 
May, 1872 (when 46), although allowance must be 
made that it was evidently intended (on the theory 
that "misery loves company") to hearten the brother, 
who seemed to be in somewhat straightened circum- 
stances; liberally translated it runs thus: 

"I, too, should be content; and if I could man- 
age finances to better advantage, there might be 
prospects that I might become a well-to-do man. 



— 114 — 

Unfortunately, however, a friend of mine was 
right when he maintained that I was entirely guile- 
less concerning all the attributes that money pos- 
sessed, with the sole exception of appreciating its 
exchange value. I have noticed that, so far as sav- 
ing money goes, it makes but little difference 
whether I make $500 or $10,000 a year — it will 
always about suffice to satisfy my current necessi- 
ties, or, if you prefer, demands. Aside from the 
fact that I have made provision to protect my fam- 
ily from immediate want, I suppose I will die a 
poor man, however favorable may be my prospects 
for the next few years. How lucky that at quite 
such an early age I became convinced that I was 
not cut out for a merchant, which vocation it had 
been determined I was to follow ! Yet it seems to 
me, dear brother, that in this respect I do not stand 
alone in the family, and you especially seem to err 
in the same direction. At all events so my wife 
maintains, who holds us two — you and me — to be 
a couple of incorrigible idealists, far too good-na- 
tured ever to acquire riches — do you think she is 
right?" 

But this was hardly because he lacked financial 
acumen ; it was rather the result of his disposition. 

It was distasteful to him to scheme and dicker for 
financial advantage; he was utterly averse to driving 
a sharp bargain; and he refused to worship at the 
shrine of Mammon. Hence he never became a rich 
man; in fact until along towards middle age, he was 
not even free from debt. 

Yet it is equally true that from the first Woerner 
never failed to earn an honest living, and at all times 
after he was once fairly started, he lived comfortably 



— ii5 — 

and well. He always earned a-plenty to spend money 
freely in getting whatever was rationally desirable 
for his family or himself — and that is just what he 
did with it. In this respect, true to himself, his own 
personal wants were simple, rational and sound. In 
all that pertained to the health, education, pleasure 
and welfare of his family circle he never stopped to 
reckon the cost in money. Nor did he by any means 
confine his liberality to his family, nor to these pur- 
poses, but it was his disposition in general. 

In fact, truly it may be said that with great wis- 
dom in the larger sense, he drew from life its deepest 
and truest joys and pleasures, and used money as a 
means to that end. 

Keen was his sense of humor. Hearty, infectious, 
whole-souled his good natured and ready laugh. He 
particularly enjoyed humor of the more delicate and 
veiled sort rather than that of the coarse kind. 

Of vanity or self-conceit in any direction, he was 
absolutely destitute. Duplicity found in him its an- 
tipode; hypocrisy its antithesis. 

Wholly unfeigned and sincere too was his court- 
liness and chivalry toward the gentler sex, which 
never left him. 

Never more truly than in him did that famous line 
of Goethe find expression: 

"Das ew'ig weibliche 
Zieht uns Kinan." 

For, is it not in fundamental accord with the eter- 
nal fitness of things, and with the deepest chord in 



— n6— 

the true masculine character, that it appreciate to 
its fullest the delicate charm and grace of the truly 
feminine ? But it is the indefinable womianly quality, 
not the intellectual in woman, that attracts as the 
sweetness of the dew-kissed flower does the bee. 

Perhaps on this subject it is not quite a fair criterion, 
either to the ladies or himself, to take an excerpt from 
an offhand letter to an informal Westerner, but at all 
events this is what he said in that way in 1865: 
After expressing his admiration for a certain class 
of highly intellectual Boston ladies, whom on some 
occasion he had leisurely observed as they called for 
and read works and treatises on the higher branches 
of human knowledge, he hesitatingly confessed that 
the pleasure was not wholly unalloyed, and continued : 

"I soon noticed that the features of most, if not 
all, of these ladies, though regular, and in many in- 
stances undeniably beautiful, had a hardness, not 
to say harshness with them, which deprives them 
of that higher charm of female beauty, that soft- 
ness, that something, which I cannot give a name 
for but femininity — that which is lovable in wom- 
an. It struck me almost as if nature resented the 
attempt, on the part of woman, to invade the realm 
peculiarly allotted to men. Combat, act, exertion, 
physical or mental, is for the man; activity is the 
masculine principle; while it is woman's province 
to soothe, to receive, to suffer ; passiveness is fem- 
inine. And as those females whom necessity or 
custom compels to live in the field, or perform 
other heavy physical labor, assume a roughness of 
exterior not belonging to their sex, so the severity 



— ii7 — 

of the mental discipline submitted to by intellectual 
ladies is shadowed forth in their features, and 
miakes them unfeminine. I feel that I might ad- 
mire such a woman, be charmed by her wit and 
the brilliancy of her reasoning power; but I feel 
that I never could love one — no blue-stocking for 
me!" 

A kindred trait was his fondness for little children, 
and especially if bright or pretty. He was always 
zestfully ready to amuse and be amused by the young- 
sters. Particularly fortunate in this respect was his 
first grandchild, Gabrielle Mcllvaine (called "Gay," 
now Mrs. Harris) , who was his inseparable compan- 
ion during her early years. There can be no doubt 
that her natural brightness and attractive disposition 
were thus inestimably enriched by influences that 
could never flow from any mere governess or system 
of schooling. 



HOMES. 

, IX7HERE was the exact location of the first home 
of the newly married Woerners in the fifties, I 
am unable to say, though I do know it was somewhere 
in what afterwards became the business part of the 
city, though in those days the village of St. Louis 
was hardly more than a fringe along the Mississippi. 
Judging from his then political career it is safe to say 
that their residence or residences at that time (or at 
least within a few years thereafter) were within the 
limits of what was then the first ward. 

But along about 1858 or i860, induced, I presume, 
partly by his fondness for nature, but mainly in the 
hope of improving the health of Mrs. Woerner, he 
strained his slim finances in the purchase of a piece 
of real estate (afterwards added to and enlarged) 
which was subsequently converted into the spacious 
grounds and cozy home, which he baptized "Rose 
Cottage" in honor of the oldest girl, Rose, "whose 
birth was coincident with the erection of its walls." 

The pretty little homestead was hidden amongst 
the oak trees, on what was popularly known as "Ray- 
ser's Hill," remote from the business and residence 
parts of the town. For a short interval, either in the 
beginning or shortly afterwards, for some reason it 



— ii9 — 

was leased out, but the tenant almost at once having 
broken his lease and vacated, the family gladly took 
the opportunity to move in again and remained there 
from that early day until 1880. And there the last 
three of us children first saw the light. 

In those by-gone days, even down to my own earli- 
est recollections, this was a beautiful region in the 
southern part of St. Louis. There were few houses, 
and many trees, birds and flowers. The land there 
was still in an unmarred state of nature, covered by 
verdure, largely consisting of towering oak trees. 

Towards the East there was a steep descent from 
high bluffs down to the swirling waters of the Missis- 
sippi. In the middle of the broad channel of that river 
was "the Island" (since caused to> be joined to the 
East shore), its head about opposite the Woerner 
homestead. From the rear of the latter a magnifi- 
cent view over the Illinois side of the river was 
spread before the eye, particularly as viewed from 
the "summer-house," a pretty little wooden structure 
put up by my father within my own recollection. 

The residence itself, facing the opposite direction, 
was set far back from Marine Avenue, toward which 
it fronted. On one side were the broad grounds of the 
"Marine Hospital;" and most of the neighborhood 
was then forest or prairie. The original frontage on 
Marine Avenue was enlarged by an adjustment or 
exchange of another part, by agreement or purchase 
from the Government, owning the adjoining or Ma- 
rine Hospital grounds. 



— 120 — 

The descriptions of "Busch Villa" in "The Rebel's 
Daughter" are evidently drawn from this home of 
ours on the Mississippi bluffs and its cozy house and 
surrounding gardens, and convey a good idea thereof. 

Having been born and reared there until fifteen 
years old, my own earliest and dearest boyhood recol- 
lections are inseparably intertwined with "the old 
place" and its environments. 

Though some distance "from town," our place, 
especially on Sundays, I remember to have been a 
favorite Mecca for relatives, friends and visitors, 
who enjoyed the liberal hospitality and table of my 
parents, which must have occasioned not a little strain 
on my good mother, who by the way was the best 
housekeeper and housewife there ever was. 

Toward the river and alongside what we called 
"the lot," upon which stood that dear little "summer- 
house," was hidden a snug little brick residence, also 
belonging to the Woerner tract, in which lived one of 
his sisters, Mrs. Rosina Schilling, or, "Aunt Schill- 
ing," as she was universally known (not only to us, 
but to everybody, related or not). This dear old 
lady was passionately fond of flowers and their cul- 
ture. Her garden, famed far and near, contained 
numberless varieties of beautiful and rare plants and 
flowers, many of which were preserved in the winter 
months in hot houses. After her death (which fol- 
lowed not long after that of her husband) this little 
house was occupied by another of my father's sisters, 
the dear little widow Dorothea Guenther, and her 



— 121 — 

family — the same to whom the letters heretofore al- 
luded to were written, while he was buried away in 
the Oz arks in 1841 and 1842. 

The beauty of the scenery and the character of the 
neighborhood were largely changed when it was filled 
in later by shanties and dairies, with unrefined occu- 
pants, and by the dying of the oaks and other trees, 
and by the opening of enormous stone-quarries along 
and into the bluffs on the river. In 1880 the family 
moved away, and the pretty old homestead was later 
much transformed; we moved temporarily to No. 
1322 Chouteau Avenue (then still a fairly good 
neighborhood, but now greatly degenerated) ; later, 
in 1885, to No. 2327 Lafayette Avenue (now con- 
verted into flats), and finally in 1891 to the beautiful 
Compton Heights district where, as the second house 
in that subdivision, was erected the last residence 
(3464 Hawthorne Avenue) where the lovable couple 
lived until the end, only a few years later. 



THE MAN. 

J GABRIEL WOERNER — Oh, the man him- 
• self! 

At this point the writer confesses failure in his 
mission. Having been constantly with him from the 
day of my birth to the time of his death, with all 
that this implies, I admit high inability to tell to 
another what I know and feel. Speech is a symbol 
that appeals first to the mind, never directly the heart. 

There are things that must be felt ere we know, 
which cannot be learned from without. What printed 
page can give an adequate idea of the subtle fra- 
grance of the rose to one robbed of the sense of 
smell? What words depict the beauty of a gorgeous 
sunset to him bereft of sight? What symbol can 
convey to the deaf the soul-stirring music of the great 
masters ? There are things for the soul, not conveyed 
through the understanding. One who never loved 
cannot through lip or pen be made to know love. 
Each human heart may know it through itself alone. 
Analysis is merely absurd. No tongue, however elo- 
quent, can teach it; no pen, however keen, substitute 
the image for the fact. No more can I hope to give 
to one who never knew him, and never felt his pres- 



— 123 — 

ence, an adequate impression of J. Gabriel Woerner 
as a living reality, as husband, father, grandfather, 
friend ! 

Feeling, will, intellect — that trinity of the human 
mind that makes man the hyphen between Nature and 
God, and the evolution of which tends toward the 
Divine — were all manifested in him in a high degree. 

There was an indefinable something within and 
about him that won those with whom he came into 
personal contact. Some ascribed this to their own 
appreciation of his high sense of honor, some to his 
genial, democratic and kindly disposition, others to 
admiration of his intellectual power, still others ac- 
counted for it as resulting from this or that one of 
the many other traits of his character. 

Perhaps each was partially right, certainly none 
wholly so. My own judgment is that the explana- 
tion lay in the breadth and scope of his character, in 
the universality of his nature. 

Gabriel Woerner was a man universal. His sym- 
pathy (using the word in its largest sense) for all 
humanity was so broad and deep that it extended to 
all who came into contact with him. He understood 
the good in each man and communed with him upon 
that man's own plane, whatever it might be. This 
is most curiously manifested by the fact, still proven 
time and again these many years after his death by 
the unconscious testimony of those who knew him, 
that Gabriel Woerner made upon each individual 



— 124 — 

whose life he touched the lasting impression that he 
had understood and appreciated that particular per- 
son more truly than had any one else. And this by 
people possessed of the most opposite temperaments 
and tendencies, and living in most widely different 
stations in life, or extremes of education and ignor- 
ance. 

To those in mental distress and trouble his mere 
presence, the fact that he knew about it, exerted a 
feeling of soothing restfulness or consolation. Often, 
without assuming the implied superiority always lurk- 
ing in direct advice, his subtle guidance and influence 
helped those in need, without their conscious knowl- 
edge, and by methods unseen. He was ever ready 
and quick to respond where help or kindly offices 
were needed. His words, his smile, his letters, his 
acts, were a world of comfort to the disconsolate 
and stricken. 

His sensitive nature abhorred ostentation. His 
charity was of that chaste kind that does good by 
stealth — and so> he did to an extent far greater, and 
in ways more numerous, than were ever known. To 
him the value of a good deed lay in the thing itself, 
not in any return to the doer. Nor in its publicity, 
from which he shrank. 

There was in this man a rare combination of quali- 
ties. On the one hand a powerful intellect, indom- 
itable vigor, tireless energy, a stern adherence to 
principle, a true nobility of mind; and on the other 
hand a modesty, kindly sympathy, geniality and real 



— 125 — 

gentleness; — a combination that is but seldom found 
in one and the same person. 

Genial, appreciative, diversified and interesting, 
original, clean and unperverted in thought, enthusi- 
astic but equable, never proud or vain because of 
success, nor pessimistic because of reverses, associa- 
tion with him was to all a delight and a profit. 

And so this grand character lived his life. In the 
beginning conditions were against him, but this served 
only to strengthen the sterling qualities by which he 
conquered his way, and to broaden and liberalize his 
views. He rounded out a beautiful and full life, and 
tasted those of life's sweets that are to a noble mind 
worth while. 

On December 28, 1898, there came the unexpected, 
sudden blow that bereft him of the beloved life 
partner with whom he had lived over forty-six years 
of happy conjugal life. When the cruel scythe of 
the Grim Reaper with swift and ruthless stroke cut 
down that sweetest of flowers, his keen blade at the 
same instant gashed the wound into the survivor's 
heart which never ceased to bleed. It was the one 
blow from which he could never rally, and he soon 
followed to the same bourne, once more to join her, 
hardly a year later. 

After Mrs. Woerner's death he took but little 
interest in things. But after awhile he did con- 
centrate his efforts to complete his novel, the work 
in which, as repeatedly stated, he largely lived over 



— 126 — 

again his younger days, and in which he gave expres- 
sion to much of what transpired during his times. 

With that work finally completed he was on his 
way, in the late summer of 1899, to make the final 
arrangements with his publisher at Boston, intending 
to remain in the vicinity at a summer resort to super- 
vise the printing thereof, accompanied at the time by 
his daughter Ella and her husband, when he was 
unexpectedly stricken on the train by a paraly- 
tic stroke or in the nature thereof. Even then, with 
pathetic insistence and prophetic foreboding, he 
would not forego seeing his publisher in Boston, be- 
fore being taken to Rye Beach, where I soon hurried 
to join him. 

He never recovered. After some weeks at Rye 
he was brought back to the old homestead on Haw- 
thorne Avenue and gradually sank until January 20, 
1900, when his Christ-like spirit was released from 
the body and returned to the Maker in whose image 
it was created. 

The most crushing effect of this blow — in fact, the 
double loss in a year of those held most dear — of 
course fell upon us, his children and descendants. 
They were ours as we were theirs. It is befitting to 
be silent where words can but serve to cheapen. 

But to all who knew him, and to many who knew 
only of him, the passing of the lovable man brought 
sorrow, heartfelt, genuine, universal. Equally so to 
homes of luxury or culture and to those of lowliness 
and humility, for his life belonged to no class, but to 



— 127 — 

humanity. His brethren of the bar, in a great gath- 
ering of the Bar Association, held a few days after 
his death, paid to his memory one of the most im- 
pressive and beautiful tributes ever offered in the 
annals of that body. 

Until the last is called, will he live also in the 
sweet and grateful memory of those who knew him ; 
after that will he live in the influences that flow from 
his life, and in the works which are his perpetual 
monument. 

Yes — imperishable and real is this monument to 
earthly duty well performed. No one there ever was 
who not only tried to do, but who also more truly did, 
his whole duty. Yet as a last tribute to* the high 
plane of thought and character in which he lived, 
there was inscribed upon his tomb in beautiful Belle- 
fontaine this modest epitaph, for it was the only one 
to which his assent could be secured: 

"He tried to do his duty" 



— 129 — 



THY LIFE. 



O noble life ! Methinks 'tmust be 
When God from clay thy soul set free, 
He smiled with pride that even He 
Could fashion such a man as thee. 

Thy lesson's soul-compelling might 
E'er shines as Pole-star in the night, 
To point with clear and steady light 
The path to Duty and the Right. 

Ancestral star! O guiding gleam! 
So pure, so Christ-like and serene, 
To thy descendants dost thou seem 
Like Star of Bethlehem — God's beam. 



W. F. W. 

St. Louis, Dec. 24th, 1912. 



DEC" 9 im 



